The food-stamp economy
On the last day of every month, shoppers at Walmart load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. Is this the new normal in America? Full Article
U.S. mistrial for convicted Colombian rebel leader
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Tuesday could not reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared on four remaining counts charging a Colombian rebel leader with hostage-taking and providing material support to a terrorist group.
The jury on Monday found Ricardo Palmera, the most senior leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to go on trial in the United States, guilty on a single count of conspiracy to take hostages in the kidnapping of three American contractors in 2003.
The judge in the case declared the mistrial after the jury said it could not agree on a verdict on the remaining four counts.
Palmera, also known as Simon Trinidad, was captured in Ecuador and then extradited to the United States from Colombia in December 2004.
His first trial ended in November 2006, when jurors said they could not agree on a verdict. He then was tried the second time.
A spokesman for the federal prosecutors said no decision had been made on whether to press ahead with a third trial on the hostage-taking and terrorism charges. Palmera also faces a separate trial, scheduled for later this year, on drug trafficking charges.
