US woman who was held in Iran says she's not a spy

NEW YORK – An American woman who was held in Iran for more than 13 months and accused of espionage said Sunday she and two men detained with her never spied or committed any crime, calling their arrest "a huge misunderstanding."

Discussing her experience at the most length since her release Tuesday, Sarah Shourd underscored her gratitude at being released but said she felt only "one-third free" because her fiance, Shane Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal remain in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

"This is not the time to celebrate," Shourd, 32, said at a New York news conference. "The only thing that enabled me to cross the gulf from prison to freedom alone was the knowledge that Shane and Josh wanted with all their hearts for my suffering to end."

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly. He later met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East as well as efforts to resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, the U.N. spokesperson's office said.

Ahmadinejad told The Associated Press, "We're very glad that that lady was released. (Due) to the humanitarian perspective the Islamic Republic chose to adopt on the subject, she was released on bail. And we hope that the other two will soon be able to prove and provide evidence to the court that they had no ill intention in crossing the border, so that their release can also be secured."

Tying the case to Iran's assertion that some of its citizens are being held unjustly in the United States, he said, "It certainly does not give us joy when we see people in prison, wherever in the world that may be, and even when we think of prisoners here."

Composed but occasionally pausing when her voice wavered with emotion, Shourd thanked Iranians and Ahmadinejad in a carefully scripted return that spoke to the continuing delicacy of her situation. She didn't take questions or discuss the conditions in which she'd been held, walking away from the podium at a Manhattan hotel hand-in-hand with her mother, Nora, before Fattal's and Bauer's mothers answered reporters' queries.

Iran has issued espionage-related indictments against her, Bauer and Fattal; the indictments could bring trials for the two men and proceedings in absentia for Shourd.

Click image to see more photos of Sarah Shourd

AP/Press TV

But Shourd stressed their innocence in a case that has added to the roster of tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The three were detained in July 2009 after Iranian officials said they intentionally crossed the country's border from Iraq. Echoing accounts their families have given in their absence, Shourd said Sunday that the three had been hiking in a popular tourist area — near a waterfall in Iraq's Kurdistan region — and had no idea the border was nearby.

"If we were indeed near the Iraq-Iran border, that border was entirely unmarked and indistinguishable," she said.

"Shane and Josh do not deserve to be in prison one day longer than I was," she said. "We committed no crime and we are not spies. We in no way intended any harm to the Iranian government or its people and believe a huge misunderstanding led to our detention and prolonged imprisonment."

Shourd's mother has said she had health problems including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells. Shourd said Sunday that doctors in Oman, where she went immediately after her release, had determined she was physically well.

Officials in Oman — an ally of both Iran and the United States — mediated a $500,000 bail for Shourd that satisfied Iranian authorities and apparently did not violate U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. The source of the bail payment has not been disclosed.

After 410 days in Iranian custody, "I walked out of prison with my spirit bruised but unbroken," she said.

Shourd left Oman on Saturday for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and took a commercial flight from there to Dulles International Airport, near Washington, the Americans' families said.

Shourd and Bauer had been living together in Damascus, Syria, where Bauer was working as a freelance journalist and Shourd as an English teacher. Fattal, an environmental activist and a fellow graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, came to visit them last July, and the three went hiking.

She added that she hoped their experience would provide "an opportunity for Americans and Iranians to realize that an improved relationship would be in the best interest of all people."

Fattal's mother, Laura, said she was encouraged by Shourd's release. But both she and Bauer's mother, Cindy Hickey, said it also had been hard for them.

"It was a very bittersweet moment for me — sweet because I love Sarah very much ... and very bitter. I mean, the cold hard truth is: Shane and Josh are still in prison, and we want them home," she said at the news conference.

The two said they had asked to meet with Ahmedinejad during his trip in New York, as they have unsuccessfully in the past.

Ahmadinejad's suggestions that the three could be traded for Iranians held in the U.S. have raised concerns that the Americans could be used as bargaining chips as the two countries face off over issues like Iran's disputed nuclear program. The U.S. accuses Iran of hiding plans to build a nuclear bomb; Iran denies that and says it's working only toward building nuclear power plants.

But Laura Fattal said the men's mothers weren't focused on such fears.

"We are mothers, we are not politicians, and we are just very, very eager, clearly, to have our children returned to us," she said.

___

Associated Press Writers Jennifer Peltz and John Daniszewski contributed to this report.

Gun terror at America's top hospital: Man shoots doctor before killing his own mother and then himself

Victim: Dr David Cohen was shot by 

the gunman in the terror at Johns Hopkins 

yesterday. He is expected to survive

A gunman today killed himself and his mother as police prepared to storm the hospital room where he had barricaded himself in after shooting a doctor.
The gunman, Warren Davis, 50, was believed to be enraged over his sick mother's medical care at prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Police said Davis was briefed about his mother's medical condition by a doctor outside her hospital room at  just after 11am this morning when he became 'emotionally distraught' and 'overwhelmed'.
He then took a small semi-automatic handgun from his waistband and fired a single gunshot that struck the doctor - believed to be spinal expert David Cohen - in the lower chest, upper abdomen.
'The doctor collapsed outside the doorway and Mr Davis ran into the room brandishing the gun at his mother who was confined to the bed,' a police spokesman said.
Police evacuated the floor in the Nelson Building, a thoracic centre on the sprawling campus, where the gunman was cornered and negotiators from a police SWAT team tried to coax him into surrendering for more than two hours.

Medical drama: A gunman and his mother is dead and the doctor he shot is in stable condition after a siege at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore

But at 1.30pm, armed officers broke into the room to discover the mother, Jean Davis, dead in her bed from gunshot wounds and her son dying on the floor.
Neither the police or hospital authorities would comment on the news the gunman was told about his mother's health.

An inquiry was being launched this afternoon into how Mr Davis was able to bring a weapon into the hospital.

There were conflicting reports after it was initially claimed that the man was shot and killed by police officers.

But a Baltimore police spokesman later confirmed that he killed himself after murdering his mother.

Murder-suicide: Baltimore City police officers enter the hospital after reports the gunman had taken a hostage. He later shot himself and his mother who was being treated at the hospital.

Dr Cohen was rushed into surgery immediately after being shot and his condition was said to be ‘stable.’
He is an assistant professor and  orthopedic surgeon at Johns Hopkins. He also has a fellowship in  spinal reconstructive surgery.

The 45-year-old University of Rochester 
graduate specializes in research into osteoporosis and scoliosis.
'We do know the doctor will be okay,' a police spokesman said. 'He is the best place in the world to be treated in these circumstances.’

His abdominal injuries were said to be non-life threatening.

A nurse who said she was on the floor at the time of the 11am shooting said the man was angry about his mother’s care. She said he was threatening to jump out of a window.

‘I started running. When you hear gunshots you run,’ she added.

‘He is in a hospital room with his mother and was upset about some surgery carried out on her,’ a source told the Baltimore Sun.

A Baltimore Police spokesman would not confirm the report.

The ER and other parts of the hospital were running as usual. The FBI and SWAT teams were both at the scene.

‘As a precaution, Johns Hopkins Hospital has temporarily restricted access to main hospital buildings following a report this morning of a disturbance and possible shooting on one of the floors,’ said Johns Hopkins officials in a statement.

‘City police and Hopkins security officers are on the scene and are asking employees, visitors, patients and caregivers to stay in their rooms or offices with the door locked if possible until further notice.’
Jacqueline Billy, a nurse who works in respiratory care, said she was on the seventh floor when the shooting took place.

She got in an elevator, accidentally went up to the eighth floor, and when the elevator doors opened, police with guns drawn ordered her to shut the door.

‘I was petrified, the door opened and there are a bunch of guns. You never expect that,’ she said.

The incident has parallels with the sensational season finale of the medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ when a gunman runs amok gunning for surgeons at the show’s fictional hospital in Seattle.
In the dramatic storyline, the killer claimed he was out for revenge because his wife died at the hospital.

Taliban urge Afghan vote boycott, warn of violence

By Jonathon Burch and Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL | Thu Sep 16, 2010 3:30pm EDT

Workers carry ballot boxes to be distributed to polling stations, at counting center in Kandahar province, September 16, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Omar Sobhani

 

KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban renewed a warning on Thursday they would try to disrupt Afghanistan's parliamentary poll and urged a boycott, while poll monitors said the electoral watchdog had not acted forcefully enough against fraud.

Fears of violence and fraud are hanging over Saturday's vote, in which almost 2,500 candidates are vying for 249 seats in the wolesi jirga or lower house of parliament. Afghanistan's own election watchdog has warned of a "disputatious" process.
 
The poll is a test of stability ahead of President Barack Obama's strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of U.S. troop withdrawals.
President Hamid Karzai's credibility with his allies is also on the line, after a fraud-marred presidential vote last year, with some observers warning that a repeat of that drawn-out poll would strain relations and could play into the Taliban's hands.
 
"The electoral authorities have learned many lessons from the experience of last year, in particular in improving their systems to prevent massive fraud," United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said in a statement issued in Kabul.
 
"These elections will not be perfect, but I am hopeful that they will be better than last year's election," he said.
 
The hardline Islamist Taliban repeated a warning that they would unleash violence during the poll, in which there are 11.4 million eligible voters.
 
"We call on our Muslim nation to boycott this process and thus foil all foreign processes and drive away the invaders from your country by sticking to jihad and Islamic resistance," the group said in a statement.
In the eastern city of Jalalabad, several hundred protesters demanding more polling stations clashed with police.
 
"This is a government plot and they are doing this deliberately. They don't want these people to succeed in the election. They are mistreating us and we want more polling stations," demonstrator Gulab Shah told Reuters Television.
 
In southern Uruzgan, troops shot a protester armed with an assault rifle who tried to enter a coalition military outpost.
 
The protester's condition was not known since others dragged him away, said James Judge, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
MISCONDUCT
 
Karzai's government says it can provide security for all voters on Saturday, with the support of 150,000 foreign troops as backup. However, the government election watchdog said two election workers were gunned down on Wednesday in the north.
 
The independent Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) criticized the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), a U.N-backed oversight panel, for taking too little decisive action against government voting misconduct.
 
Out of more than 580 registered complaints, 310 were against government officials, FEFA said.
"We are not encouraged by the level of action by the ECC against the government officials," FEFA Chairman Nader Naderi told reporters. "They did take some measures ... but they needed to be much more aggressive in addressing this serious issue."
 
The ECC will have to adjudicate potentially thousands of complaints, a large number of which could delay the results of the ballot. No results are expected before October 8, with the final outcome not due before October 30.
 
The government urged news media on Wednesday not to report on what it termed electoral shortcomings or objections to the process and militant attacks targeting voting.
Abdullah Abdullah, runner-up to Karzai in last year's presidential poll, told reporters that if the elections were rigged this time around, it would strengthen the insurgency and break Afghans' trust in democracy.
 
"The trust will disappear, and then, what's the option for the people? The people will be left between a corrupt government and a violent Taliban, with no way out," he said.
Candidates have complained of intimidation and police indifference. At least four contestants have been killed and dozens of supporters wounded. Female candidates in particular have been at risk in the deeply conservative Muslim nation.
 
"The Afghan security forces must ensure that voters and candidates are given adequate security," rights group Amnesty International said. "Everyone, including women, should be able to participate without fear of attacks and threats."
 
The United Nations has told about a third of its international staff to leave or stay out of Afghanistan until after the election, due to Taliban threats, U.N. spokesman Kieran Dwyer said.
The decision affects about 300 people, but does not apply to the 170 employees brought in to help with the election, he said.

James Bond's Aston Martin for sale

LONDON (Reuters) - James Bond's 1964 Aston Martin DB5, dubbed by auto auctioneers RM Auctions on Tuesday as the "world's most famous car," will go under the hammer in London in October and is expected to fetch over $5 million (3 million pounds).
It is the first time the distinctive silver-coloured car has been available to the public to buy.
It is one of two, and the sole remaining, of the original "007" DB5s that appeared on screen with Sean Connery behind the wheel in "Goldfinger" and "Thunderball," RM Auctions said in a statement.
The model comes complete with its "Q-Branch" gadgets including machine guns, bullet-proof shield, revolving number plates, tracking device, removable roof panel, oil slick sprayer, nail spreader and smoke screen.
Several of the gadgets are fully operational, although the machine guns are not real.
The car is being sold by U.S. radio broadcaster Jerry Lee, who convinced the Aston Martin Lagonda factory to sell it for $12,000 in 1969, becoming its first and only ex-factory owner.
It has remained in his possession and has rarely been seen publicly over the past 40 or so years. Lee plans to use the proceeds from the sale for the Jerry Lee Foundation.
It will be auctioned on October 27.

I dyed my hair the whole time': Matt LeBlanc admits he was going prematurely grey during Friends

His dark-haired swarthiness and playboy charm made him a sex symbol on hit show Friends.
But Matt LeBlanc has confessed he was dying his hair throughout the time he was starring on the show.
According to Matt, he was going prematurely grey, something that would not have fitted with his Joey Tribbiani character.

Silver fox: Matt LeBlanc looks very distinguished as he leaves Scott's Restaurant in Mayfair, London

So the 42-year-old actor, who was 27 when Friends began, started dying his locks to maintain his boyish look.