U.S. judge grants bond to former contractor in Afghan murder case

A U.S. judge agreed on Wednesday to release on bond one of two former contractors from the private security firm previously known as Blackwater Worldwide while they await retrial on charges they murdered two Afghans in Kabul. District Judge Robert Doumar in Norfolk, Virginia, declared a mistrial earlier this week after the jury deadlocked on the charges against Justin Cannon and Christopher Drotleff. They were charged earlier this year with 13 counts related to the shooting deaths of the two Afghans and wounding a third at an intersection in Kabul in 2009. Reuters reports.