Gwinnett Daily Post

Vatican defends Benedict as ardent anti-Nazi

JERUSALEM - The Vatican defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday as a man of strong anti-Nazi credentials and a peacemaker in the face of mounting Israeli criticism and Arab anger over the Israeli occupation.

Critics faulted the German-born pope for failing to apologize in a speech at Israel's Holocaust memorial for what they see as Catholic indifference during the Nazi genocide - a controversy that threatened to overshadow his high-profile pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Benedict delivered messages of peace Tuesday while visiting the holiest Muslim and Jewish sites in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.

'The purpose of this visit is peace,' said Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

Google halted in Greece over privacy issue

ATHENS, Greece - A privacy watchdog has banned Google Inc. from gathering detailed, street-level images in Greece for a planned expansion of its panoramic Street View mapping service until the company provides additional privacy safeguards.

In rejecting Google's bid to roam Greek streets with cameras mounted on vehicles, Greece's Data Protection Authority, or DPA, said it wanted clarification from the U.S. Internet company on how it will store and process the original images and safeguard them from privacy abuses.

The decision, announced Monday, comes despite Google's assurances that it would blur faces and vehicle license plates when displaying the images online and that it would promptly respond to removal requests.

US files murder charges in Iraq base shooting

BAGHDAD - An Army sergeant who was due to leave Iraq soon after three tours has been charged with murder and aggravated assault in the fatal shooting of five fellow soldiers at a military counseling clinic in Baghdad, a U.S. official said..

Sgt. John M. Russell was taken into custody outside the clinic following Monday's shooting at Camp Liberty, said Maj. Gen. David Perkins. It was the deadliest case of soldier-on-soldier violence since the war began in 2003.

Perkins gave few details of the shooting and said there were conflicting accounts of what happened.