NATION IN BRIEF

U.S. Seeks Rejection of Suit Over Iraq Detention

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LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. government is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Cyrus Kar, an aspiring American filmmaker who spent two months in an Iraqi prison without being charged.

In the lawsuit, the first civil case challenging detention policies in Iraq, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California alleges that the filmmaker's detention violated his civil rights, the Geneva Conventions and the law of nations.

In its response, filed Friday, U.S. attorneys cautioned the court to carefully consider getting entangled in military operations overseas. They said Kar cannot challenge the government's policies without "a realistic threat that he will again be subject to detention in Iraq by the United States military officers."

Kar, an Iranian American, was taken into custody in May 2005 while he was in Iraq to make a documentary. The U.S. military said potential bomb parts were found in a taxi in which Kar was riding.

Military officials have said that Kar was properly detained as "an imperative security threat" and that the matter had been handled and resolved appropriately.

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· The weekly Gannett-owned Military Times newspapers -- Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times -- urged President Bush in an editorial to fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, citing a loss of support from military leaders over the Iraq war. White House press secretary Tony Snow dismissed the editorial as a "shabby piece of work" and said its assertions were mistaken.

· ATLANTA -- Two of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s children say a proposed civil rights museum should be near their father's grave instead of in the city's tourism hub. Coca-Cola Co. two weeks ago offered for the museum a 2.5-acre site near the Georgia Aquarium, CNN Center and the future World of Coca-Cola Museum. Martin Luther King III and Bernice King said the civil rights museum should be near Ebenezer Baptist Church, where their father preached, and the King Center, where their father and mother, Coretta Scott King, are buried.

· ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York state Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi's use of state workers to drive his wife was a "knowing and intentional" violation of law that justifies the Democrat's removal from office, according to a report by a special investigator appointed by Gov. George E. Pataki (R). The report by former U.S. attorney David Kelley stops short of recommending that Pataki call for the state Senate to remove Hevesi, who is seeking reelection Tuesday. It adds that the violation was not a criminal act.

· NEW YORK -- A detective suspended after testing positive for drugs says his wife served him meatballs spiked with marijuana because she wanted to keep him out of harm's way by forcing him into retirement. Anthony Chiofalo's wife told authorities that she had substituted marijuana for oregano in her meatball recipe in hopes of forcing him to leave police work. An administrative judge believed Chiofalo, and has recommended to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly that the 22-year veteran be reinstated.

· CHICAGO -- A fire has destroyed the historic George Harvey House, designed by renowned architect Louis Sullivan, the third of his buildings brought down by flames this year in the city. No one was inside the house, which was completed in 1888, and no injuries were reported, said Fire Department spokesman Kevin MacGregor.

-- From News Services