AP - President Bush pivoted to the Arab side of the Mideast peace dispute on Saturday, and got a far less glowing reception from his Egyptian host a key player in the long-running fight than he did in Israel earlier this week.
AP - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a top Democratic critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, met with the Iraqi prime minister Saturday during a surprise visit to Baghdad.
AP - Threats of assassination have derailed plans by Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to return home to campaign for the presidential runoff vote, a party spokesman said Saturday.
AP - A French navy ship carrying 1,000 tons of food idled near Myanmar's coast Saturday, awaiting permission from the uncooperative ruling military regime to dock in the cyclone-devastated Irrawaddy delta.
AFP - Spanish police on Saturday announced the arrest of five hackers accused of attacking government websites in the United States, Asia and Latin America.
AP - Leaders of Lebanon's U.S.-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition met behind closed doors in Qatar on Saturday for the highest-level talks so far in the country's 18-month-long political crisis, which turned violent a week ago.
AP - Acrid smoke from charcoal-making blankets this Amazon logging town with the smell of business as usual. Less than three months ago, federal agents swooped in to close sawmills, confiscate wood and smash charcoal furnaces in a government crackdown on illegal logging.
AFP - Authorities in Zimbabwe have rejected opposition and international calls for additional election observers for the second round of presidential elections due on June 27, state media said on Saturday.
Reuters - Taliban militants freed a kidnapped
Pakistani envoy on Saturday, in what appeared to be part of a
prisoner swap involving the release of more than 40 Taliban,
according to senior Pakistani security official.
AFP - Australia's most wanted fugitive landed in Melbourne on a flight from Greece amid tight security on Saturday, more than two years after fleeing his homeland.
AP - Hours before the California Supreme Court issued its decision on gay marriage, Mayor Gavin Newsom heard rumblings that the justices would uphold the state's ban.
AP - Olympian Tim Montgomery had everything he ever wanted. Once known as the "world's fastest man," Montgomery won a silver medal in the 400 relay at the 1996 Olympics and gold in the same event in 2000. In 2002, he set a record of 9.78 seconds in the 100-meter dash.
AP - A minister from a Dallas-area Baptist megachurch was caught in an Internet sex sting and charged with online solicitation of a minor, police said Friday.
AP - Jennifer Marsh was sick of paying high gas prices and bothered by the abandoned gas station that was an eyesore on the drive to her studio each day.
AP - When Texas child welfare authorities released statistics showing nearly 60 percent of the teen girls taken from a polygamist sect's ranch were pregnant or had children, they seemed to prove what was alleged all along: The sect commonly pushed girls into marriage and sex.
AP - An ailing 81-year-old North Carolina man who escaped from a Maryland prison 43 years ago was taken into custody Friday to face extradition, a move his attorneys decried as a waste of time because he is ill and aging.
AP - An out-of-control van jumped a curb and barreled into bystanders near the entrance to a crowded subway station, killing the driver and hurting seven people, authorities said.
AP - The NAACP board of directors has chosen Ben Jealous, a former news executive and lifelong activist, as the organization's next president and the youngest in its 99-year history.
AP - A biochemist was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for killing her estranged husband by knocking him out and stuffing him into a vat of acid, possibly while he was still alive.
AP - Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under this system, with the same $1.75-a-day allowance, and some sheriffs are actually making money on top of their salaries.
AP - Federal law gives MySpace.com immunity from a lawsuit over the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by a man she met on the social networking Web site, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
AP - Robert Mondavi, the vintner who built his career and helped an iconic Northern California industry blossom by insisting that Napa Valley wines can compete with the best in the world, died in the valley Friday. He was 94.
AP - Three Mexican men held dozens of illegal immigrants in a squalid "drop house" in South Los Angeles, where one woman was raped and others say they were threatened with sexual assault, authorities said Friday.
AP - A nurse survived eight days in the wreckage of a Turkish hospital destroyed by an earthquake in 1992. A newborn was rescued after more than a week in the rubble of Mexico City's 1985 quake. Now, in China, rescuers are pulling out victims days after they were buried by a powerful earthquake.
AP - Federal border agents say they will search for illegal immigrants at inland Texas checkpoints even during a hurricane evacuation, a plan state and local officials say could lead to disastrous delays and discourage some people from getting out.
AP - The leader of a Southern California Indian tribe and a sheriff's department vowed Friday to work together to lower tensions after three people were killed on the reservation in gun battles with deputies.
AP - The U.S. is its own worst enemy when it comes to the desperately important task of recruiting immigrants as spies, analysts and translators in the war on terror, new Americans are telling intelligence officials. The government's policies raise suspicions and fear in the immigrants' home countries and disturb potential recruits here who might otherwise want to help.
AP - Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hoodwinked landowners into waiving their property rights for construction of a fence along the Mexican border.
AP - In President Bush's hint that Barack Obama wants to appease terrorists, Democrats heard troubling echoes of 2004, when Republicans portrayed John Kerry as irresolute and weak on national security.
Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama
accused President George W. Bush on Friday of "fear-mongering"
for suggesting Democrats wanted to appease terrorists and vowed
to meet leaders of hostile nations like Iran if elected.
Reuters - The FBI is helping to get
information from detainees and prepare terrorism cases against
suspects at Guantanamo Bay, despite differences with the CIA
over harsh interrogation techniques, the bureau's director said
on Friday.
AP - Barack Obama laid into John McCain on Friday for advancing a tough-guy foreign policy that he called "naive and irresponsible," serving notice that he's ready to launch a full-throttle challenge to the Republican presidential contender on international relations in the general election campaign.
AFP - Democrat Barack Obama accused President George W. Bush and Republican White House pick John McCain of hypocrisy and fear-mongering Friday, stoking an intense campaign row over national security.
AP - Authorities in France, Germany and the Netherlands on Friday detained at least 10 people suspected of helping to fund al-Qaida-linked militants with roots in Uzbekistan, officials said.
AP - Obama assails McCain for 'naive, irresponsible' foreign policy, lays down challenge ... McCain courts NRA, 2nd Amendment devotees, makes a West Virginia gun shop visit ... Clinton launches ads in upcoming primary states, focuses on working-class issues in Oregon ... Democratic Party panel members show little interest in Clinton's call to seat disputed delegates ... Obama picks up endorsements from former Edwards delegate, California congressman.
Reuters - A member of an Afghan Taliban cell
was convicted by a federal jury on Thursday on charges of
narco-terrorism and narcotics distribution, the U.S. Justice
Department said in a statement.
Reuters - An impending message from al Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden was announced on Islamist Web sites and
discusses the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel,
U.S.-based terrorism monitors said on Thursday.
AP - A Moroccan court broadened investigations Thursday into two alleged terrorism cells, one accused of supporting insurgents in Iraq and the other of plotting suicide bombings in Casablanca last year.
AP - A federal jury has found an Afghan enemy combatant guilty of drug charges in what the Justice Department calls the first convictions under new narco-terrorism laws.
AFP - Presidential hopeful Barack Obama Thursday accused President George W. Bush of an "extraordinary politicization" of foreign policy, after the US leader implied Democrats want to appease terrorists.
AP - U.S. and Iraqi troops moved against al-Qaida on two separate fronts Thursday, with house-to-house searches in Mosul and an operation in the desert to stanch the flow of insurgents and weapons to that northern city.
AP - President Bush gently urged Mideast leaders to "make the hard choices necessary for peace," leaving it to embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to stand before a divided parliament Thursday and forcefully declare that this war-weary nation is ready for a historic agreement with Palestinians.
The Christian Science Monitor - Seven synchronized bombs exploded in the picturesque city of Jaipur Tuesday evening, killing more than 80 people and wounding more than 200. The bombs, the deadliest such attacks in India in nearly two years, appear to fit into an emerging pattern in India, in which bomb explosions occur every few months and are attributed to Islamic terrorists.
AFP - The United States has poured nearly 40 billion dollars in aid to South Asia since the September 11 attacks but the terror threat from the region remains a top problem, a congressional hearing was told.
AP - Top lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee are demanding more information from the Homeland Security Department about medical treatment provided to illegal immigrants detained in the U.S.
Reuters - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi can be
called to testify in a trial of U.S. and Italian spies accused
of kidnapping a terrorism suspect in Milan and flying him to
Egypt, a Milan judge ruled on Wednesday.
AP - President Bush pivoted to the Arab side of the Mideast peace dispute on Saturday, and got a far less glowing reception from his Egyptian host a key player in the long-running fight than he did in Israel earlier this week.
AP - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a top Democratic critic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, met with the Iraqi prime minister Saturday during a surprise visit to Baghdad.
AP - About 3,600 workers at American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. will find out soon whether a new contract was worth 80 days without a company paycheck.
AP - Being dead since 1940 hasn't kept Idaho U.S. Sen. William Borah from being inserted squarely into 2008 presidential politics after Democratic candidate Barack Obama took issue with President Bush's borrowing of a quote from Borah.
AP - Russia's new president has promised the kind of democratic change that Washington advocated during predecessor Vladimir Putin's tenure. At the same time, all the candidates to succeed President Bush have promised a break from a foreign policy that Moscow has bitterly criticized.
AP - After wrapping up a successful concert tour, you'd think Reba McEntire would want to take some time off to relax. Instead, the tireless country star is preparing for her 10th turn as host of the Academy of Country Music Awards this weekend. Over the years, she says she's gained more ease hosting the event.
AP - Kobe Bryant scored 34 points and Los Angeles held off a furious rally by the Utah Jazz for a 108-105 victory Friday night, putting the Lakers in the Western Conference finals for the first time in four years.
AP - The Cleveland Cavaliers packed for a weekend stay in Beantown not a few weeks on Cape Cod. They've got at least one more game left, and in the NBA, it's as big as they ever get. Game 7. On Sunday. In Boston.
Reuters - Thousands of Chinese fled to
the hills on Saturday amid fears a lake formed near the
epicenter of this week's earthquake would burst its banks.
Reuters - Myanmar's junta took diplomats on a tour
of the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy delta on Saturday as the toll of
dead and missing from Cyclone Nargis soared above 133,000
people, making it one of the most devastating ever to hit Asia.
Reuters - U.S. President George W.
Bush will try on Saturday to address the concerns of
Palestinian leaders looking for signs they will not be
neglected after he lavished praise on Israel earlier this week.
Reuters - Democratic presidential
front-runner Barack Obama said on Friday President George W.
Bush's "failed policies" had strengthened U.S. enemies like
Iran and Hamas.
Reuters - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on Saturday postponed his expected return home to
contest an election run-off after his party discovered an
assassination plot against him, his spokesman said.
Reuters - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, a key Democrat critic of President George Bush's
war policy in Iraq, landed in Baghdad on Saturday for talks
with U.S. and Iraqi officials, the U.S. embassy said.
Reuters - The United States intends to build a
big new prison at its main military base in Afghanistan, a
shift from earlier aims to transfer most detainees to Afghan
custody, The New York Times reported.
Reuters - A new Justice Department report
praises FBI agents for refusing to join in the U.S. military's
abusive questioning of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and
Afghanistan, but faults the bureau's for responding slowly to
complaints from its own agents about the tactics, The New York
Times reported on Saturday.
AFP - Frustrated world leaders condemned Myanmar's military rulers on Saturday, alleging negligence and possible crimes against humanity by refusing a massive foreign relief effort for the cyclone tragedy.
AFP - China ramped up efforts on Saturday to stave off disease for millions of earthquake victims, as more miracle rescues amid the rubble offered hope in an increasingly desperate battle to save lives.
Reuters - Charges against five Guantanamo prisoners
accused of plotting the September 11 attacks should be thrown
out because they were improperly influenced by a Pentagon legal
adviser, U.S. military lawyers said in documents filed on
Friday.
AP - With his follow-up to "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore wants to examine America as an empire, study its standing since the Sept. 11 attacks and present revelations to surprise audiences as much as the first film did.
AFP - The United States has poured nearly 40 billion dollars in aid to South Asia since the September 11 attacks but the terror threat from the region remains a top problem, a congressional hearing was told.
Reuters - New York might not be able to afford all
of the huge building projects planned in Manhattan, from Ground
Zero to west midtown, Gov. David Paterson said on Wednesday,
adding a new tsar may be needed to overcome delays.
AFP - The US has referred five accused co-conspirators in the September 11 attacks for military trial but dropped charges against the alleged "20th hijacker" without explanation, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Reuters - The Pentagon said on Tuesday it
dropped charges against a Saudi who U.S. officials say intended
to be the "20th hijacker" on September 11 but sent five others
to trial on accusations they planned the 2001 attacks.
AP - People who lost relatives in the Sept. 11 attacks fear alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will use his upcoming war-crimes trial to boast about his role and rally support for al-Qaida.
AP - The largest charity established to help Washington-area victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is closing nearly seven years after a hijacked airplane crashed into the Pentagon.
HealthDay - FRIDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- Social workers run the risk of
suffering severe psychological stress from hearing too many stories of
trauma, according to a new study that looked at people who counseled
others impacted by the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York City.
Reuters - American films and TV dramas shot since
the September 11 attacks have reinforced screen images of Arabs
and Muslims as fanatics and villains, ingraining harmful
stereotypes, argues an author on the subject.
Reuters - Nearly seven years after the
September 11 attacks, al Qaeda remains the biggest terrorist
threat to the United States and its allies, the U.S. State
Department said in an annual report on Wednesday.
Reuters - The Guantanamo prisoner accused of
masterminding the September 11 attacks has met for the first
time with the U.S. military lawyer assigned to defend him on
war crimes charges that could lead to his execution, the
attorney said on Friday.
AFP - Born out of the horror of the September 11 attacks, the Tribeca Film Festival co-founded by director Robert de Niro in 2002 opens for its seventh year Wednesday hailing its growing strength.
Reuters - The former head of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency cannot be held liable for
assurances she gave about air safety following the September 11
attacks in New York, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.
AFP - Pope Benedict XVI paid a solemn visit to the site of the attacks of September 11, 2001, in New York before celebrating a huge mass at Yankee Stadium to close a historic US visit.
Reuters - Pope Benedict ended his U.S trip on
Sunday with an emotionally charged visit to Ground Zero where
he prayed at the site of the felled World Trade Center, and a
triumphant Mass for 57,000 people at Yankee Stadium.
AFP - Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday backed the doubts expressed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejed about the accepted version of the September 11, 2001 attacks, saying there were "many ambiguities."
Reuters - The U.S.
military will televise the Guantanamo trial of accused
September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other
suspects so relatives of those killed in the attacks can watch
on the U.S. mainland.
Reuters - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
on Thursday called on the U.S. government to pay $150 million a
year to cover medical bills for workers and residents whose
health suffered due to the September 11, 2001, attacks.
AFP - More than six years after the September 11 attacks, the United States still does not have a coherent plan to destroy a key staging area for terrorist attacks into the country, according to an independent government watchdog.
AP - A former Army Corps of Engineers consultant and a dirt subcontractor were indicted Thursday on bribery charges stemming from an investigation into levee work after Hurricane Katrina.
AP - The state will take over an effort to collect grant money from Hurricane Katrina victims who got too much, citing a lack of confidence in a private contractor's ability to determine who owes money, a Louisiana official said Thursday.
AP - Josue Vega was one of thousands of immigrant workers who flocked to New Orleans in 2005 in hopes of finding a rebuilding job in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
AP - As former President Jimmy Carter nailed down the front porch of a home under construction Wednesday, singer Harry Connick Jr. gave an update on the progress being made in the Upper 9th Ward, an area slow to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Reuters - The U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday to
extend until 2013 a federal program that insures millions of
homes against floods and to forgive $17 billion in debt the
program built up during Hurricane Katrina.
AP - The Senate agreed Tuesday to write off and hand over to taxpayers more than $17 billion in debt that a FEMA flood insurance program accumulated after being devastated by Katrina and other 2005 hurricanes.
AP - A construction company owner who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina claimed a $97 million Powerball prize, a jackpot won off a ticket he bought at a convenience store where he stopped to buy his wife a gallon of milk.
AP - Lingering fears about formaldehyde fumes inside federally issued trailers and the impending hurricane season have Mayor Ray Nagin pushing to empty thousands of the structures, intended as temporary housing after Katrina.
AP - The Neville Brothers, who traditionally help close out the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, returned to the big stage Sunday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina flooded and wrecked their homes, along with 80 percent of the city.
Reuters - The Neville Brothers, one of New
Orleans' most famous musical families, on Wednesday sought to
soothe hurt feelings stirred by their absence since Hurricane
Katrina by returning to the city's jazz festival.