Man, 61, faces identity theft charges

The U.S. Diplomatic Security Service says a convicted felon obtained a U.S. passport using a dead man's identity and another person's Social Security number and used it to travel outside the country for 10 years until it expired in 2003.

The man then got a new passport from the U.S. Embassy in Singapore using the same stolen identity and a fictitious Social Security number and used it to travel to the Philippines, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Indonesia, the government said.

Robert Marshall Read, 61, is back in the United States and is facing identity theft charges and 11 counts of making false statements in the use of a passport. His federal trial in Honolulu is scheduled for April.

The government said Indonesian authorities arrested Read in January 2008 when he attempted to obtain an Indonesian passport using counterfeit identity documents.

In July 2007 officials at the U.S. Embassy in Malaysia seized the passport they said Read was using after they were alerted.

He fled the embassy and went to Indonesia. He was at the embassy to apply for additional visa papers.

Group to sue over Midway cleanup

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for allegedly failing to clean up toxic, lead-based paint at federal facilities on Midway Atoll.

The group said yesterday that the paint kills up to 10,000 Laysan albatross chicks each year and also threatens the endangered Laysan duck. It says the inaction violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

In response to the filing, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Barbara Maxfield said the agency began cleaning up the lead-based paint at Midway around 2005.

She says $1.5 million has been spent so far to remediate 24 of 95 buildings that contain lead-based paint.

Obama's visit thrills Guam's leaders

HAGATNA, Guam » Guam's government leaders are excited about a planned visit by President Barack Obama next month.

According to the office of Guam's governor and its U.S. congressional delegate, Obama will stop on the Western Pacific island on his way to Indonesia and other points in Asia.

Obama will meet with U.S. military personnel on Guam.

Gov. Felix Camacho said he hopes to tell Obama why he wants to slow down a huge U.S. military buildup on the island. Congressional Delegate Madeleine Bordallo said it would help Guam for Obama to learn more about the U.S. territory.

The last president to visit Guam was Bill Clinton. He stopped on the island for more than four hours in 1994, and 25,000 people turned out for the occasion.

Guam is 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.

For Obama the visit to Indonesia and Australia will be his first international trip of the year.

As a child, Obama spent several years in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama will formally launch a comprehensive partnership with Indonesia during the trip.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Convoy will affect traffic on Big Island

Big Island motorists are advised that Oahu-based military units will be transported by convoy from Kawaihae Harbor to Pohakuloa Training Area today as well as Thursday, Saturday and Monday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., via Akoni Pule Highway, Queen Kaahumanu Highway, Waikoloa Road and the Mamalahoa-Saddle Road corridor.

The Pohakuloa Department of Army police are working closely with local authorities and military units to coordinate.

For more information, contact Steve Troute from Pohakuloa Training Area Public Affairs at 969-2405 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).