By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) -Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday dismissed their case against a man found guilty of the 1999 killing of his ex-girlfriend in a case that drew national attention after the podcast “Serial” raised doubts about his guilt.

Adnan Syed, 42, served more than 20 years in prison for the slaying of Hae Min Lee. A circuit court judge vacated the murder conviction last month and released him after an investigation identified problems with the case, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry him.

On Tuesday, the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby said during a news conference that she ordered prosecutors to drop the criminal case against Syed after DNA testing cast doubt on his guilt.

“The criminal justice system should be based on fair and just prosecution and crux of the matter is that we are standing here today because that wasn’t done 23 years ago,” she said, apologizing to the Lee and Syed families. “Today, justice is done.”

Mosby said no DNA was recovered from Lee’s skirt, panty hose or jacket during a touch DNA testing that was recently performed for the first time on the evidence. She added that DNA was found on Lee’s shoes, but it was not from Syed.

“Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man,” Syed’s lawyer, Erica Suter, said in a statement released to local media.

Mosby said the investigation into who killed Lee remains open.

Syed has maintained he was innocent and did not kill Lee, who was 18 when she was strangled and buried in a Baltimore park. The podcast “Serial,” produced by Chicago public radio station WBEZ, drew national attention to the case in 2014.

Prosecutors filed a motion on Sept. 15 to vacate the conviction after conducting a yearlong investigation alongside a public defender representing Syed. Several problems were found with witnesses and evidence from the trial, the investigation found.

Four days later, prosecutors told Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn that they no longer had confidence in “the integrity of the conviction,” and that justice required that Syed at least be afforded a new trial.

Prosecutors said they had discovered new information about two alternative suspects, whom they have not named, including one who had threatened to kill Lee, and both of whom have a history of violent crimes against women. Their identities were known to the original prosecutors but not disclosed to the defense as required by law.

Phinn then ordered Syed to be released from prison, where he was serving a life sentence, and put him on home detention. Mosby said Syed will need to go through an innocence certification process for those who are wrongly convicted.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Chizu Nomiyama)

DUBAI (Reuters) -Clashes between protesters and security forces persisted across Iran on Tuesday, with social media videos showing tanks being transported to Kurdish areas, which have been a focal point of the crackdown on protests over Mahsa Amini’s death in custody.

Protests calling for the fall of the clerical establishment have swept Iran since Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, died on Sept. 16 while being detained by the morality police in Tehran for “inappropriate attire”.

While observers do not believe the unrest, now in its fourth week, is close to toppling the government, the protests mark one of the boldest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution, with reports of strikes spreading to the vital energy sector.

The authorities are waging a deadly crackdown. Videos on social media showed trucks moving dark green tanks to Kurdish areas, raising the stakes in the revolt. Reuters could not verify the video footage.

Tensions have been especially high in Kurdish regions, given Amini’s ethnic background. Human rights groups say Iran’s Kurdish minority of more than 10 million has long been oppressed – a charge the Islamic Republic denies.

The Hengaw human rights group reported “intense conflict” on Tuesday between protesters and security forces in three cities in Kurdistan province – Sanandaj, Baneh and Saqez, where Amini was buried last month.

Protesters in Saqez set fire to a statue of local members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hengaw said.

In video footage shared on the widely followed Twitter account group Tavsir1500 from Sanandaj, shooting could be heard and women screaming. Reuters could not independently verify the footage from Hengaw or Tasvir1500.

At least 185 people, including 19 minors, have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands have been arrested by the security forces, according to rights groups. The government says more than 20 members of the security forces have been killed.

Iranian authorities have said they will investigate civilian deaths.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said security forces had killed at least 30 protesters, injured another 825, and arrested more than 2,000 in the predominantly Kurdish regions.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

The Iranian authorities have blamed the violence on an array of enemies including armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents, with the Revolutionary Guards attacking their bases in neighbouring Iraq a number of times during the latest unrest.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi reiterated accusations that Iranian Kurdish dissident groups were supporting the protests and said security forces would “neutralize the desperate anti-revolutionary effort”.

ENERGY SECTOR

Unrest continued elsewhere overnight after demonstrations spread into Iran’s vital energy sector, according to videos on social media which Reuters could not confirm.

Energy installations in southwestern Iran were hit by strikes for a second day on Tuesday, with workers protesting at the Abadan oil refinery, Kangan and the Bushehr petrochemical plant, according to the widely followed Tavsir1500 Twitter account.

Videos posted on the account showed a few dozen workers chanting “Death to the dictator”, referring to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A regional official said on Tuesday the workers at the Assaluye plant were angered by a dispute over wages and were not protesting over Amini’s death.

Governor Ali Hashemi said some Iranians had tried to hijack the workers’ protests by chanting anti-government slogans, according to Iran’s Young Journalists Club News Telegram account.

It was a combination of mass protests and strikes by oil workers and bazaar merchants that helped to propel the Shi’ite clergy to power in the Iranian revolution four decades ago.

Dozens of universities are also currently on strike, with students playing a pivotal role in the protests.

Meanwhile, in the city of Fuladshahr in the central province of Isfahan, protesters set fire to the office of a prayer leader, according to a video posted by Tavsir1500.

The authorities’ crackdown on protesters has prompted some Western states to draw up more sanctions on Iran, stoking diplomatic tensions at a time when talks to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers are at a standstill.

France’s foreign minister said on Tuesday five of its nationals were being held in Iran and the European Union had agreed the technical aspects to impose sanctions on Tehran, which would come into force next week.

France lashed out at Iran on Oct. 6 accusing it of “dictatorial practices” and taking its citizens hostage after a video was aired in which a French couple appeared to confess to spying.

(Reporting by John Irish in Paris and Dubai newsroom: Writing by Michael Georgy/Tom Perry; Editing by Gareth Jones and Alistair Bell)

Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court heard an appeal Tuesday from a Texas man on death row who maintains his innocence and whose case has drawn the attention of celebrities, lawmakers and millions of Americans.

The court did not address the merits of Rodney Reed’s case, but debated a narrow technical issue, relating to delays in criminal proceedings.

Its decision, expected before June 30, will however have a direct impact on the future of the 54-year-old Texan by authorizing the reopening of his case or, on the contrary, his execution by lethal injection.

Reed, an African-American man, was convicted by an all-white jury in 1998 of the rape and murder of Stacey Stites, a 19-year-old white woman.

Traces of his sperm were found on the victim’s body, but Reed insists he is innocent of the 1996 murder and that he and Stites had a secret consensual relationship.

Reed’s supporters believe that evidence gathered after the trial points to another suspect, Stites’s fiance Jimmy Fennell, a disgraced police officer who later served a 10-year prison sentence for a kidnapping and rape committed while on duty.

A fellow inmate says Fennell confessed to him that he had killed Stites because she was sleeping with a Black man.

Fennell has denied any involvement in Stites’s murder, but police initially considered him a suspect.

Texas prosecutors claimed during Reed’s trial that he had sexually assaulted several other women before Stites’s murder.

His execution was stayed just five days before it was to be carried out in 2019 following a campaign that included reality star Kim Kardashian, the singers Rihanna and Beyonce, and Texas lawmakers including Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Two petitions seeking to halt Reed’s execution that circulated on the internet drew more than 3.5 million signatures.

DNA testing of murder weapon

To prove his innocence, Reed asked the Texas authorities in 2014 to conduct new DNA analysis on the murder weapon, a belt that was used to strangle Stites.

His appeals for DNA testing were repeatedly denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, so Reed turned to the federal courts.

But they refused to intervene on the grounds the request came too late, after the two-year window allowed to challenge a state court ruling in federal court had closed.

The question before the Supreme Court is, when does the window open?

At the hearing, judges appointed by Democrats seemed to be leaning in his favor.

“Isn’t that the simplest thing just to say (that) the person isn’t harmed until the state process has come to an end and we know for a fact what the state judgment is?” asked justice Elena Kagan.

Conservative justices, who regularly denounce the delaying tactics of death row inmates, did not show their preference.

Judge Samuel Alito merely noted the issue is “case specific and really quite narrow.”

Supporters of Reed gathered in front of the Supreme Court with a large banner proclaiming “Rodney Reed is innocent!”

Emily Ratajkowski appears to have come out as bisexual on TikTok.

The model, 31, responded to a video on Monday (10.10.22) that asked those who “identify as bisexual” if they “own a green velvet couch”.

Emily, who has filed for divorce from her estranged husband Sebastian Bear-McClard, then showed off her green velvet couch.

It prompted fans to fill the comments section of her post with congratulations for “coming out” as being attracted to men and women, with many declaring: “Yet another win for the ladies.”

Emily’s apparent admission to being bisexual comes as celebrities including Madonna and Shay Mitchell appeared to admit they were part of the LGBT+ community ahead of ‘National Coming Out Day’ on October 11th.

It comes amid rumours she is dating Brad Pitt, 58, after the pair were reported to be “spending a lot of time” in each other’s company.

A source told People: “Friends aren’t sure if it’s serious. They don’t appear to be ‘dating’ formally.”

It emerged in September Emily had officially filed for divorce from her 41-year-old ex-husband Sebastian amid allegations he cheated on her.

She lodged a filing to end their four-year marriage at Manhattan’s Supreme Court, after the couple first split in July amidst reports film producer Sebastian, with whom Emily shares 19-month-old son Sylvester Apollo Bear, was a “serial” cheat.

A source close to the model confirmed the split to People in July and said Emily was focused on parenting.

The insider was quoted saying: “They split recently. It was Em’s decision. She is doing OK.

“She is strong and focused on her son. She loves being a mum.”

Neither Emily nor Sebastian have not yet commented publicly on the state of their relationship.

They married at a New York court on February 23, 2018, with Emily confirming the news with the Instagram post: “Sooo, I have a surprise, I got married today.”

She later said she only took “30 seconds” to decide she wanted to marry the ‘Uncut Gems’ producer.

In October 2020, the pair announced they were expecting their first child together, but Emily declared it was “something a woman does by herself, inside her body, no matter what her circumstances may be”.

She added: “Despite having a loving partner and many female friends ready to share the gritty details of their pregnancies, I am ultimately alone with my body in this experience.

“There is no one to feel it with me – the sharp muscular aches in my lower abdomen that come out of nowhere while I’m watching a movie or the painful heaviness of my breasts that now greets me first thing every morning.

“My husband has no physical symptoms in ‘our’ pregnancy – another reminder of how different a woman and man’s experience of life can be.”

By Chris Gallagher and Sarah N. Lynch

(Reuters) -Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other defendants linked to the far-right group are on trial for charges of seditious conspiracy and other felonies arising from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by then-President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Here is a look at the defendants and the charges they face.

STEWART RHODES

Rhodes, 57, of Granbury, Texas, is a former U.S. Army paratrooper turned Yale University-educated lawyer. He is the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, which U.S. officials have described as an anti-government group. Rhodes says it is a non-partisan group whose members, including current and former military, police and emergency service personnel, have pledged to uphold the Constitution.

Rhodes and his co-defendants are accused of conspiring to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 election. Rhodes and the other defendants face the rarely prosecuted charge of seditious conspiracy, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and defined as attempting “to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States.”

He and the other defendants also face charges that include obstruction of an official proceeding and tampering with documents. Rhodes and the others have pleaded not guilty.

According to the indictment, Rhodes began encouraging his Oath Keepers followers in November 2020 to “oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power.” Trump has made false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

Rhodes set up a chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal in which members planned to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6, when Congress was scheduled to certify Biden’s victory, according to the indictment. Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on firearms and related equipment before and after Jan. 6, the indictment stated.

He entered restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, directed Oath Keepers members by text and telephone on what positions to take up around the building, and continued plotting with co-conspirators after the attack, according to the indictment.

His attorneys have said he will take the stand and testify in his own defense later in the trial.

THOMAS CALDWELL

Caldwell, 68, of Berryville, Virginia, helped coordinate preparation for what the Oath Keepers called quick reaction force, or QRF, teams, which were ready to rapidly transport weapons into Washington from just outside the city to support operations around the Capitol, according to the indictment.

The indictment said Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant commander who once worked for the FBI, took a reconnaissance trip into Washington in November 2020, chose a hotel in suburban Arlington, Virginia, as the quick reaction force’s base of operations, and mapped routes to the Capitol from the hotel.

During the Jan. 6 attack, Caldwell joined with others in pushing past barricades and climbing stairs to a balcony in a restricted area on the west side of the Capitol building, according to the indictment.

Caldwell has denied he was a member of the Oath Keepers, but prosecutors have said he has strong ties to the group. His wife is expected to take the stand later in the trial to assist with his defense.

KELLY MEGGS

Meggs, 53, of Dunnellon, Florida, was the head of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers and led a first group of members into the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the indictment.

Meggs and other Oath Keepers members, many wearing paramilitary clothing and patches with the Oath Keepers insignia, marched in an organized military fashion up the east steps of the Capitol and stormed through a heavy set of doors into the building alongside a mob, the indictment said.

KENNETH HARRELSON

Harrelson, 41, of Titusville, Florida, helped Meggs in organizing the Florida Oath Keepers and was part of the militia group that stormed into the Capitol building, according to the indictment.

These members pushed forward as part of a mob that “assaulted law enforcement officers guarding the doors, threw objects and sprayed chemicals toward the officers and the doors, and pulled violently on the doors,” the indictment added. Harrelson and others later moved toward the House of Representatives chamber in search of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, but did not find her, it said.

JESSICA WATKINS

Watkins, 40, of Woodstock, Ohio, led the Ohio team of Oath Keepers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the indictment. The Afghanistan war veteran charged into the building with other members and commanded those around her to push against a line of officers guarding the hallway to the Senate chamber, before retreating when officers used a chemical spray, the indictment says.

Meggs, Harrelson and Watkins also face charges of destruction of government property due to damage done at the Capitol building, according to the indictment.

Her attorney has told the jury that Watkins, a transgender woman, has always struggled to fit in and her actions that day are a reflection of that.

PREVIOUS DEFENDANTS

Three other Oath Keepers defendants – Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson – pleaded guilty this year to engaging in seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack. They are awaiting sentencing and could potentially be called as witnesses at the trial.

Four other Oath Keeper defendants also charged with seditious conspiracy are due to go to trial in late November.

(Reporting by Chris Gallagher and Sarah N. Lynch, editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)

Iran’s chief justice has for the first time proposed a dialogue with opponents of the country’s leadership as protests against the government continue.

“Citizens or political groups should know that we have an ear for protests and criticism and are ready for dialogue,” Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei said on Monday.

According to the Donya-e Eqtesad news portal, he conceded that Iran’s political system could also have “weaknesses and flaws” and said that “we are ready to listen to suggestions and also have no qualms about correcting any mistakes.” He went on to say, however, that peaceful protests must be distinguished from violent riots.

Iran had so far spoken of a conspiracy by foreign countries and armed Iranian opposition groups in connection with the near month-long protests, and has started a crackdown.

There were further protests on Monday. Tension on the streets and internet restrictions have paralysed large parts of the economy.

Germany and several other western countries have called for sanctions against Iran’s leadership.

Britain on Monday said it had imposed sanctions on Iran’s so-called morality police “in its entirety” as well as five political and security officials in Iran.

The protests were set off by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly not adhering to Iran’s strict Islamic dress code.

Chula Vista (United States) (AFP) – There are no pearls growing on the oyster reefs in San Diego Bay, but scientists hope they will yield an even more valuable treasure: protection against coastal erosion wrought by rising sea levels.

Thousands of the tiny mollusks have begun growing on the artificial reefs dropped in the bay as part of a plan to mitigate damage in California’s far south.

“We look at numerous different ways to help combat sea-level rise, and these reef balls are one of the tools in our toolbox to do that,” Eileen Maher, director of environmental conservation at the Port of San Diego, told AFP. 

The port implanted 360 structures last December, along a peninsula wedged between the salt marshes of Southern California and the Coronado peninsula — home to the naval air base that inspired “Top Gun.”

These hemispheres weigh 300 pounds (135 kilograms) and look like huge thimbles.

They are made from a mixture of cement, sand and crushed oyster shells — a crucial ingredient that attracts living oysters to make their home there.

After 10 months in the water, the reefs are covered with a greenish silt, which hides thousands of still-microscopic oysters, says Maher.  

Eventually, the dozen scientists working on this pilot project hope to see the formation of real oyster reefs, which they believe will have a genuine impact on their local environment.

Miniature filters

The reefs are much more than a natural bulwark against tidal erosion; their bivalve occupants are all miniature filtration plants that are essential to the marine ecosystem.  

That’s because to capture the nutrients an oyster needs to survive, each one filters around 50 gallons (190 liters) of water every day, said Maher. 

“They help remove that turbidity out of the water and help clean the water, which will provide additional benefits to eelgrass, the submerged aquatic vegetation,” she said.

“The more eelgrass sits in the bay, the less chance there is of the shoreline eroding, because it helps — any plant will help prevent shorelines from eroding.”

And like the oysters, these long-filament seagrass beds will also provide a crucial food source for the 80 species of fish and 300 varieties of birds that make their home in the area.

Flooding and erosion

By 2050, sea levels around California are expected to have risen 20 centimeters (eight inches), according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study released early this year.  

This would drastically increase the frequency of flooding on the West Coast, which will also occur more often due to storms and heavy rainfall events exacerbated by human-caused climate change. 

And rising seas will worsen the erosion that threatens California’s coastline. 

Around San Diego, this future is already apparent.

To the south, the streets of Imperial Beach are regularly flooded during high tides. An hour’s drive to the north, the rail line that carries the “Pacific Surfliner” has just been closed at San Clemente, where the rocks that support it are sinking because of erosion. 

In this context, “We have to make sure that we’re resilient,” said Jason Giffen, vice president of planning and environment for the Port of San Diego. 

The $1.3 million oyster reef project is being evaluated over five years. Similar schemes have been established in San Francisco and New York.

The oyster barriers work only in areas of shallow water, Giffen said.

Elsewhere, the port is exploring other solutions. 

In the northern part of the bay, small hollow reinforcements have been attached to the piers.

They not only offer stability but provide refuge to algae, fish and shellfish, helping to bolster biodiversity.

Currently, about 70 percent of the shoreline around San Diego Bay has some type of artificially contructed rock protection.

“We can look at replacing in the long run that infrastructure with something that’s more biologically and environmentally sensitive and actually would be a value-add in terms of environmental quality,” said Giffen.