LONDON (AP) — Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric whom British officials say is an al-Qaidafigurehead and a threat to national security, was freed from an English prison into virtual house arrest late Monday, British media reported.

Judicial officials acknowledged earlier in the day that the 51-year-old extremist preacher’s release from Long Lartin jail was imminent, but declined to comment on the reports from Sky News and the BBC, citing operational concerns.

Both broadcasters aired photographs that appeared to show Abu Qatada in the backseat of a van as it left the high-security prison in central England.

The Palestinian-Jordanian cleric has spent more than six years in prison, but a tribunal ruled last week he should be released on bail.

The terms of his bail, published by the judiciary, require Abu Qatada to wear an electronic tag and to stay inside his home for 22 hours each day. He is not allowed a mobile phone, a computer or Internet access, and he is barred from communicating with a long list of individuals, including al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The conditions also stipulate he must not lead prayers, give lectures, publish articles, preach or provide religious instruction or advice, “other than to his wife and children at his residence.”

Abu Qatada, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, has been described in both Spanish and British courts as a leading al-Qaida figure in Europe. He is reported to have had close ties to the late Osama bin Laden.

British officials say he poses a serious threat to the country’s security, but attempts to deport him to Jordan to face terrorism charges was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled last month that there is a risk evidence obtained through torture would be used against him in court.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said Monday that Britain still hoped to overcome the European’s courts objections. Jordanian officials also have said they will challenge the ruling.

“We are clear we want to remove Abu Qatada at the earliest opportunity. We are looking at all the options,” a spokesman for Cameron said, on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Abu Qatada arrived in Britain in 1993 and was detained in 2002 under anti-terrorism laws that at the time allowed suspected terrorists to be jailed without charge. He has never been charged with a crime in Britain, although authorities have accused him of advising militants and raising money for terrorist attacks.

Although Abu Qatada was released in 2005 when the unpopular law was overturned, he was kept under surveillance and arrested again within months and held pending deportation to Jordan.

He has been convicted in absentia there of terrorist offenses related to two alleged bomb plots in 1999 and 2000, and would face a retrial there if deported from Britain.

Private Property Deals

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces renewed their assault on the rebellious city of Homs on Tuesday, activists said, as the U.N. human rights chief raised fears of civil war.

Troops loyal to President Bashar Assad have been shelling Homs for more than a week to retake parts of the city captured by rebel forces. Hundreds are believed to have been killed since last Saturday, and the humanitarian conditions in the city were worsening.

Homs was under “brutal shelling” on Tuesday, the Local Coordination Committees activist group said, citing its network of witnesses on the ground.

With diplomatic efforts bogged down, the conflict in Syria is taking on the dimensions of a civil war, with army defectors clashing almost daily with soldiers.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay warned on Monday that the Security Council’s failure to take action has emboldened the Syrian government to launch an all-out assault.

The uprising began last March as mostly peaceful protests against Assad’s authoritarian rule, but has become more militarized in the face of the brutal military crackdown.

Pillay told the General Assembly that more than 5,400 people were killed last year alone, and the number of dead and injured continues to rise daily.

She said tens of thousands of people, including children, have been arrested, more than 18,000 reportedly are still arbitrarily detained and thousands more are reported missing. In addition, 25,000 people are estimated to have sought refuge in neighboring countries and more than 70,000 are internally displaced.

“The breadth and patterns of attacks by military and security forces on civilians, and the widespread destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure indicate approval or complicity by authorities at the highest level,” Pillay said.

Also Monday, the Obama administration said it backs Arab League plans to end continuing violence in Syria but noted several obstacles to deploying a proposed international peacekeeping force to the country and withheld full endorsement of the idea.

The administration has said repeatedly it does not see a military solution to the crisis in Syria, yet U.S. officials indicated they would consider the Arab League call for peacekeepers and discuss it with various countries to see whether such an idea is feasible. However, they stressed there would be difficulties in getting required U.N. Security Council authorization for a force.

Chief among the hurdles is opposition by Russia and China, which vetoed a far less ambitious Security Council action already this month. Russia has said peacekeepers could not be sent without Syrian government approval; officials in Damascus already have rejected the proposal, calling it unjustified interference in internal affairs.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The decision to pay $40,000 to a former third-grade teacher who has been charged with committing lewd acts on students was the most immediate way to guarantee he would not be a threat to any other student, school officials said Friday.

Mark Berndt was offered the settlement — the equivalent of approximately five months of salary and other related expenses — to drop an appeal of his firing last year, the Los Angeles Unified School District said in a statement.

Berndt was removed from the classroom in January 2011 and dismissed as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was investigating him. He appealed but resigned in June after the settlement was reached.

The settlement was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

“We were told we could not do any investigation” to avoid interfering with the criminal probe, district general counsel David Holmquist told the Times. “We didn’t have any evidence and we couldn’t put on any witnesses. We didn’t have anything to successfully defend a challenge.”

Berndt, 61, recently was charged with 23 counts of lewd acts upon children, ages 6 to 10, accused of feeding his semen to some students during “tasting games” in his classroom from 2005 to 2010.

A second Miramonte teacher, Martin Springer, was fired this week and has pleaded not guilty to committing three lewd acts on one girl in class in 2009. Springer, 49, was freed on bail early Friday, though the Los Sheriff’s Department said he was fitted with a court-ordered electronic ankle monitor.

Meanwhile, some parents at a different school said they were angry that they were never told a teacher was charged months ago with molesting four children.

Paul William Chapel, 50, has been jailed on $2.2 million bail since his October arrest. The former third-grade teacher at Telfair Elementary School in Pacoima is accused of molesting three girls and boy in 2010 and 2011. The charges include continuous sexual abuse and committing forcible lewd acts, although details haven’t been released.

“We were never informed of this. It’s a big shock,” parent Sylvia Hernandez told the Daily News of Los Angeles. “We would like to be informed. We’d like to know what’s going on with our children in school. … That’s the least we can expect.”

School board member Nury Martinez said she only learned about the arrest Thursday.

In a statement, she said that Chapel was removed from school in April but police told the district not to release any information to avoid compromising their investigation.

“I have been at Telfair all morning meeting with parents who are understandably angry and frustrated,” Martinez said in a statement.

She was told that school officials will sent a letter explaining what happened and why information was not released.

At Miramonte, students returned to class for the first time Thursday since the entire 120-member staff was replaced in an unprecedented move by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Only 68 percent of the 948 expected students attended.

The day got off to a rough start with the teachers union president assailing the reassignment of teachers as a stunt and about 100 parents and students blasting the move.

United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher said teachers were being “tarred and stigmatized for no reason” and that grievances would be filed against the district on behalf of some 85 reassigned teachers.

Superintendent John Deasy said the makeover was needed to clear the school from a cloud of distrust and suspicion stemming from Berndt’s arrest.

The new hires, which include a retired principal, 81 teachers and dozens of support staff, will cost the cash-strapped district $5.7 million, said district spokesman Thomas Waldman. The new staffers were recently laid off and were on a rehiring list.

The district also faces potentially millions of dollars in legal costs as lawsuits are filed. Three lawsuits were filed Tuesday, and claim notices have been filed for at least four other lawsuits.

A number of parents have opted to file lawsuits instead of going to sheriff’s detectives because they are illegal immigrants and are afraid they’ll be deported.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano said he will reintroduce a bill this month that will protect children and domestic violence victims from deportation.

Rick Santorum raised some eyebrows by saying women should not be in combat because of the “the types of emotions involved.” Now, Santorum says, he is also concerned about “physical strength and capability” of women in combat situations.

First, on those “emotions,” Santorum says he was not talking about the emotions of women.

“I was talking about men’s emotional issues; not women,” Santorum told ABC News. “I mean, there’s a lot of issues. That’s just one of them.”

What emotional issues? Santorum says he believes that the men serving with women would put the protection of women in their unit above the overall the mission.

“So my concern is being in combat in that situation instead of being focused on the mission, they may be more concerned with protecting someone who may be in a vulnerable position, a woman in a vulnerable position,” Santorum said.

But Santorum says he is concerned about more than just the “emotional issues.”

“You throw on top of that just simply physical strength and capability and you may be out there on a mission where it’s you and a woman and if you’re injured, the ability to transport that person back. And you know, there’s just, there are physical limitations,” Santorum said.

That said, Santorum acknowledged that women already serve in harm’s way.

“Women have served and do serve and do wonderful things within the military and … they do have opportunities to serve in very dangerous positions,” Santorum said. “I mean they serve in very dangerous positions. And I certainly understand that and respect that and admire women for doing so, but I think on the front line of combat is not the best place and its’ not maximizing what they can bring to the table.”

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