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administration's handling of the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya that led to the death of the American ambassador and three others.
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Russian court postpones jailed Pussy Riot appeal hearing to Oct. 10 after member fires lawyers
• MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian court on Monday postponed the appeal of three members of jailed rock band Pussy Riot until Oct. 10 after one group member fired her lawyers.
• The three performers were sentenced in August to two years in prison for hooliganism for performing a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow's main cathedral.
• Band member Yekaterina Samutsevich announced at the opening of the hearing that she has fired her three lawyers over an unspecified disagreement. Samutsevich said she found another lawyer but had failed to sign a contract.
• Prosecutors condemned the move as a delaying tactic.
• Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alekhina, 24, and 30-year-old Samutsevich were arrested in March after dancing and high-kicking at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral as they pleaded with the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin, who was elected to a third presidential term two weeks later. They said during their trial in August that they were protesting the Russian Orthodox Church's support for Putin and didn't intend to offend religious believers.
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Motorcycle bomber in east Afghanistan kills 14 people, including 3 NATO troops, officials say
• KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber driving a motorcycle packed with explosives rammed his bike into a patrol of Afghan and international forces on Monday morning in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 14 people, including three NATO service members and their translator, officials said.
• The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, which came a day after the U.S. death toll in the war in Afghanistan reached 2,000 troops and as relations between international forces and their Afghan partners have been pushed to the breaking point by a surge in insider attacks by Afghan allies.
• The bomber struck a group of Afghan police and international troops shortly after they got out of their vehicles to walk through a market area in Khost city, the capital (Continued on page 24)
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