NATION IN BRIEF

Court to Probe Alleged Leak In Military-Secrets Case

LOS ANGELES -- A federal court plans to investigate whether government officials illegally supplied grand jury information in a U.S. military-secrets case to a Washington Times reporter.

Court papers show that the investigation seeks to uncover a possible source and the content of "improper communications" with Times reporter William Gertz for a story he wrote in May.

Attorneys for Rebecca Laiwah Chiu, one of five family members indicted in an alleged scheme to send sensitive information about Navy warships to China, asserted that Gertz received information about a then-pending grand jury indictment of Chiu and the others on additional charges in violation of grand jury secrecy rules. Some of the charges cited in Gertz's May 16 story were contained in an indictment returned last month.

The story was sourced to "senior Justice Department officials [who] have approved the new charges," court papers said.

U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney said in court papers that the alleged violation "triggers the duty of the court to investigate further."

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· NEW ORLEANS -- A soldier who is absent without leave for the second time said on Friday that his attorney has repeatedly tried to speak with the Army about his status but that the military is ignoring the subject. Pvt. Kyle Snyder, 23, a former combat engineer, is AWOL from his unit after failing to report to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., on Nov. 1 -- a day after turning himself in after an 18-month AWOL stint. He had fled to Canada in April 2005, while on leave, to avoid a second tour in Iraq. James Fennerty, his attorney, said the Army wanted to send Snyder back to his unit at Fort Leonard Wood, where commanders would determine his future.

· YUMA, Ariz. -- An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent was jailed for more than a day after Mexican border officials found 650 rounds of ammunition in his car, authorities said on Saturday. The unidentified agent was arrested as he entered Mexico at the San Luis port of entry in southwest Arizona. Mexican customs inspectors found a bag containing 650 rounds of .40-caliber ammunition in the agent's 2006 Nissan Altima, Mexican authorities said. Possessing firearms or ammunition is illegal in Mexico. Large warning signs are posted at border crossings.

· WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to refrain from blocking the government's review of the phone records of two New York Times reporters. Prosecutors want to see the records of Judith Miller and Philip Shenon to track down the confidential sources they used for stories in 2001 about two Islamic charities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit approved the search, but the Times asked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to temporarily block the government review of the records.

· RED LAKE, Minn. -- A search of Red Lake Indian Reservation has turned up no trace of two missing young brothers. Tristan Anthony White, 4, and Avery Lee Stately, 2, disappeared on Wednesday.

· GATLINBURG, Tenn. -- A staircase at a rental cabin collapsed on Friday as more than 30 family members posed for a group picture, sending 11 to the hospital, officials said. The injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, a fire department official said.

-- From News Services