International News brief

From opposite ends of the globe, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder firmly rejected criticism Wednesday of the planned New York trial of the professed Sept. 11 mastermind and predicted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be exposed as a murderous coward, convicted and executed.

“Failure is not an option,” Holder declared.

The president said in interviews broadcast on NBC and CNN that experienced prosecutors in the case who specialize in terrorism have offered assurances that “we’ll convict this person with the evidence they’ve got, going through our system.”

Critics of Holder’s decision — mostly Republicans — have argued the trial will give Mohammed a world stage to spout hateful rhetoric.

Holder said such concerns are misplaced, because judges can control unruly defendants and any pronouncements by Mohammed would only make him look worse.

BAGHDAD, Iraq

Election plan in turmoil

Iraq’s pivotal national elections were thrown back into turmoil and potential delay Wednesday after Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi vetoed part of an election law and sent it back to parliament.

Successful national elections, which are supposed to take place in January, are a crucial milestone for the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq. President Barack Obama wants to remove all American combat forces from Iraq by Aug. 31.

Al-Hashemi, a Sunni Muslim, charged that the measure doesn’t provide adequate representation for millions of displaced Iraqis, most of whom are thought to be Sunnis.

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran: Nuke material staying

Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday said his country would not export its enriched uranium for further processing, brushing aside the latest U.N. plan aimed at preventing Tehran from potentially building nuclear weapons.

Instead Manochehr Mottaki said Iran would consider a nuclear swap inside Iran as an alternative plan.

The United Nations last month offered a deal to take 70 percent of Iran’s low-enriched uranium to reduce its stockpile of material that could be enriched to a higher level, and possibly be used to make nuclear weapons.

That uranium would be returned about a year later as refined fuel rods, which would solve the impasse over its nuclear program. Fuel rods cannot be readily turned into weapons-grade material.

BRUSH, Colo.

Ice from sky hits home

A basketball-sized chunk of ice crashed through the roof of a family’s Colorado home after apparently falling from an airplane passing overhead.

The Federal Aviation Administration was sending investigators to investigate whether the ice came from an airplane.

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said Wednesday the ice chunk appears to be “Rime ice,” which can build up on the outside of a plane’s fuselage when it flies through cold and wet air.

Fergus says that it doesn’t appear the ice was “blue ice,” which comes from an airplane’s toilet.