WASHINGTON

Two Marines to face charges in Afghan urination episode

Two Marine non-commissioned officers will be court-martialed for allegedly urinating on the bodies of Taliban fighters last year in Afghanistan and posing for unofficial photos with casualties, the Marine Corps said Monday.

The charges against Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin and Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola are in addition to administrative punishments announced last month for three other, more junior Marines for their role in the episode.

The disclosure in January of a video showing four Marines in full combat gear urinating on the bodies of three dead men led to a criminal investigation as well as a Marine investigation of the unit involved, the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which fought in the southern Afghan province of Helmand for seven months before returning to its home base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., last September.

In a statement Monday, the Marine Corps said disciplinary actions against additional Marines will be announced later. It also said there are “other pending cases related to this incident,” but said no specifics would be made public now.

National Zoo officials await cause of panda cub death

As condolences poured in from around the world, National Zoo officials waited Monday for word on why a 6-day-old panda cub died and lamented a heartbreaking setback to their closely watched breeding program.

The cub had liver abnormalities and fluid in its abdomen, but a cause of death will not be known until full necropsy results are available within two weeks.

The cub, believed to be female, died Sunday morning, less than a week after its birth surprised and delighted zoo officials and visitors.

The cub appeared to be in good condition. It had been drinking its mother’s milk. And it wasn’t accidentally crushed to death by its mother, which has happened to other panda cubs in captivity.

Since the cub’s death, mother Mei Xiang has started eating and interacting with her keepers again.

She slept Sunday night while cradling a plastic toy in an apparent show of maternal instinct.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska

Militia group member gets five years in weapons case

An Alaska militia group member found guilty of weapons charges was sentenced Monday to five years in federal prison in a case involving others convicted of conspiring to kill government officials.

Coleman Barney of North Pole held his head in his hands and sniffled loudly while he waited for U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan to impose the sentence Monday in Anchorage.

“I think you got into some real bad stuff here, and this sentence reflects it,” Bryan said.

Barney, 38, and two other defendants have been in custody since their March 2011 arrests.

Barney was convicted in June of conspiracy to possess unregistered silencers and grenades, and possession of an unregistered 37 mm projectile launcher loaded with a “hornet’s nest” anti-personnel round that contained rubber pellets. Barney’s attorney, Tim Dooley, said he plans to appeal his client’s conviction and is considering appealing the sentence.

Schaeffer Cox, the leader of the Fairbanks-based Alaska Peacemaker Militia, and another militia member, Lonnie Vernon, are scheduled for sentencing Nov. 19 on more serious charges, including conspiracy to commit murder.

Members of the tiny militia claimed the group would protect families and property if the federal government collapsed.