ERROR PUT NAVY BOATS IN IRAN’S WATERS

tampa, fla. » Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday it appears a navigational error caused the crews of twoNavy boats to stray into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf, where they were detained overnight by Iran and released.

“They obviously had misnavigated. ... That’s how they believe they ended up in this circumstance,” Carter said in an interview inMiami with Fusion network. “They did not report this navigational error at the time. It may be that they were trying to sort it out at the time they encountered Iranian boats. ... We don’t know that fully yet.”

Carter later flew to Tampa to meet with leaders of U. S. Central Command, which oversees the U. S. military in the Middle East.

Asked his view of the video released by Iranian media showing the Americans kneeling aboard their boats with their hands on the heads, Carter said, “Obviously I don’t like to see our people being detained by a foreign military.” He said he wants to hear from the U. S. crews before commenting further. “We need to give these guys the opportunity to tell us what was really going on.”

Russia mulls new anti- gay lawB

moscow » Lawmakers in Russia next week will consider the country’s most aggressive anti- gay legislation in recent memory: a ban on public displays of affection among gays that could punish couples for kissing or even holding hands on the street with a fine or a two- week jail sentence.

The bill, which is slated for discussion in Russia’s parliament next Friday, would be the latest salvo against “nontraditional sexual relations,” which President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials have singled out as a corrupting influence on Russian morals and a symbol of theWest’s permissiveness.

The new legislation allows a fine of up to 5,000 rubles, or $ 65, for the “public expression of nontraditional sexual relations, resulting in the public demonstration of one’s own distorted sexual preferences in public places.”

Teacher questioned in avalanche deaths

B paris » A French prosecutor says the teacher who accompanied high school students swept away by a deadly avalanche in the French Alps is suspected of involuntary manslaughter.

rosecutor Jean- Yves Coquillat, in the eastern city of Grenoble, near the Alps, said the teacher is being questioned by police