Nation and world news in brief for October 16
Judge rules against vacating Texas man’s death sentence in ‘shaken baby’ case
PALESTINE, Texas (TNS) — A judge in Anderson County on Tuesday morning denied pleadings from an East Texas man on death row for fatally shaking his daughter, thwarting an 11th-hour attempt by lawyers to stop the execution.
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Administrative Judge Alfonso Charles ruled against motions by Robert Roberson III’s attorneys to get a judge who oversaw post-conviction proceedings thrown off the case for alleged jurisdiction issues and bias.
Roberson, 57, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Thursday in Huntsville. If put to death, Roberson will become the first person in the country to be executed for “shaken baby syndrome,” according to lawmakers.
Two giant pandas arrive in Washington from China
(Reuters) — A pair of giant pandas arrived in Washington from China on Tuesday to move into their new home at the U.S. National Zoo, which has been without the black-and-white bears, one of its most popular attractions, for nearly a year.
China sent the pandas as part of an agreement announced earlier this year by U.S. and Chinese government officials intended to warm relations between the two superpowers.
The zoo returned three other giant pandas — two adults and their cub — which had been on loan from China.
The new male and female pandas, named Bao Li and Qing Bao, arrived at Dulles International Airport on a FedEx plane, transported in large white crates with breathing holes along the side, and were driven by truck to the zoo.
Bao Li and Qing Bao will stay inside the National Zoo’s panda house for 30 days under quarantine, the zoo said.
Lufthansa agrees to pay $4 million penalty over treatment of Jewish passengers
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Lufthansa has agreed to pay a $4 million penalty for allegedly discriminating against Jewish passengers who were trying to board a connecting flight in Frankfurt in May 2022, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday.
Lufthansa prohibited 128 Jewish passengers, nearly all of whom wore garments generally worn by Orthodox Jewish men, from boarding a connecting flight in Germany on the basis of alleged misbehavior by some passengers, the Transportation Department said.
Although many of the passengers did not know each other or were not traveling together, passengers interviewed by DOT investigators stated that Lufthansa treated them as if they were a single group and denied all of them boarding for the alleged misbehavior of a few, DOT said.
The passengers, who had flown from New York to Frankfurt, were trying to board a connecting flight to Budapest.
Under the consent order, Lufthansa agreed to pay $2 million and the Department of Transportation said it will credit the airline with $2 million that it paid in compensation to passengers.
Lufthansa did not admit to any violations under the consent order and it denied that any of its employees discriminated against passengers. It contended as many as 60 passengers onboard at any given time were disregarding crew instructions.
