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Friday, January 9, 2004
Across the nation
An attempt to clear the Spirit rover's air bags from its path to the Mars surface has failed, and engineers are working on a last-ditch shot at removing the obstacle before choosing a more difficult route, NASA said Thursday.
Anti-semitic acts a concern in Europe
VIENNA, Austria -- Facing what some say is a rise in anti-Semitic attacks, European leaders and public institutions are locked in a debate about the significance of the violence, its causes and how to deal with increasingly alienated Muslim immigrants who are suspected in many of the incidents.
Around the world
Palestinians will give up their goal of independence and push instead for a single Arab-Jewish nation if Israel carries out its threat to unilaterally impose a new boundary with Palestinian areas, the Palestinian premier said Thursday.
Ask the Free Press
QUESTION: How can people donate to earthquake relief efforts in Iran?
ANSWER: The American Red Cross asks for cash contributions. Cash allows the agency to buy needed items in bulk, such as kerosene, heaters, blankets and tents, said agency spokeswoman Sherry Nicholson.
Bush has eyes fixed on Mars
WASHINGTON -- Echoing John Kennedy's pledge to put a man on the moon, President George W. Bush will announce plans next week to send astronauts to Mars and establish a colony on the moon.
Ceremony hails newest Queen Mary
SOUTHAMPTON, England -- Queen Elizabeth II christened the world's largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, in a royal extravaganza dampened by blustery, rainy weather Thursday.
Missing girls found safe after police chase
RANGER, Ga. -- Three girls who authorities say were kidnapped by their father after a killing spree that left four people dead were found unharmed Thursday.
Pakistan hunts for Al Qaeda
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Pakistani troops backed by helicopters launched raids Thursday to capture fugitive Al Qaeda suspects hiding in the mountains along the Afghan border, believed to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.
Some object to cadaver arm in class
PITTSBURGH -- A doctor's idea of show and tell -- opening up a cadaver arm in front of fifth-graders for a lesson in anatomy and art -- caused one student to faint and made others feel sick from the smell of formaldehyde.
Some parents complained to a board member at the Fox Chapel Area School District. School officials said Thursday they would look into the matter.
Study says farm salmon dangerous
Farm-raised salmon, a popular fish on U.S. supermarket shelves, is so contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals that people should eat it no more than once a month, a new study says.
It's a recommendation the Food and Drug Administration disputes, and fishing industry groups denounced the study even before it was released.
U.S. copter crashes in Iraq; 9 die
JUMAYL, Iraq -- A U.S. helicopter on a medical mission was apparently shot down near the restive town of Fallujah on Thursday, killing the nine soldiers aboard, in what would be the second lethal attack on a helicopter in less than a week.
Thursday, January 8, 2004
Across the nation
President George W. Bush heads into his re-election year with $99 million in the bank and plans to have millions more ready when a Democratic challenger emerges from the primaries, his campaign said Wednesday. In all, Bush raised a record $130.8 million before expenses last year.
Around the world
Officials of the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army signed an agreement Wednesday to share the oil-producing nation's wealth, eliminating a key obstacle to a peace accord in Africa's longest-running war.
John Garang, leader of the southern-based rebel group, said he would start a process to release all prisoners of war as a goodwill gesture.
BUSH'S GUEST WORKER PROPOSAL: Firestorm engulfs plan to give illegal immigrants legal status
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush's plan to overhaul U.S. immigration laws was blasted Wednesday by a wide range of groups, suggesting he'll have a difficult time finding congressional support.
Anti-immigration groups said Bush's plan to offer legal status to millions of workers who are in the country illegally would bring a flood of new immigrants and drive down wages.
Deep space mystery is urgent
WASHINGTON -- Scientists are on a quest to solve one of the biggest mysteries in the universe: so-called dark energy, a repulsive force that's driving stars and galaxies apart at increasing speeds.
Flight marshal request meets mixed reviews
LONDON -- No one would dare to seem soft on terrorism these days. But the new security measures imposed on travel to the United States have sparked strong and starkly different reactions around the world, veering from loud cheering to swift retaliation.
GIRLS SENTENCED TO SCOUTING
UNION GROVE, Wis. -- The 16-year-old stole cars, shoplifted and landed in a maximum-security juvenile facility for beating a rival gang member. Now, as a member of arguably the nation's most unusual Girl Scout troop, she raises her right hand at least once a week and pledges to change her life.
Iraqi arms posed threat in long run, report says
WASHINGTON -- Iraqi weapons programs would have threatened regional and global security in the long run, but they weren't an immediate danger to the United States -- a key reason the Bush administration gave for going to war, says a report being released today.
Jailer and inmate take 100-mile drunken joy ride
BARBOURVILLE, Ky. -- A deputy jailer and a convicted burglar he was supposed to be taking to jail were arrested Wednesday after going on a 100-mile drunken road trip in a law-enforcement vehicle and making a series of false arrests, authorities said.
Key questions about the Bush immigration plan
QUESTION: What's going to change?
Libyan overtures to Israel reported
JERUSALEM -- One of Israel's most feared enemies, Libya, is showing a sudden change of heart, opening the door to economic ties and even offering compensation to Jews who lost property in the north African nation, Israeli news media reported Wednesday.
Other developments in Iraq
ATTACK ON TROOPS: A mortar attack at a U.S. base west of Baghdad injured 35 U.S. soldiers Wednesday, the U.S. military said.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. James Cassella said some of the soldiers had minor injuries and returned to duty after the attack, while others were hospitalized. He gave no further details. The soldiers were from the 3rd Corps Support Command.
SPACE CAPSULES
BIG AND OLD: Astronomers have found an immense structure of galaxies that formed much earlier in the history of the universe than most theorists had believed possible.
Undercover scientists search U.S. cities for bombs
WASHINGTON -- Government nuclear experts worked undercover in major U.S. cities, using high-tech equipment hidden in briefcases and golf bags to hunt for so-called dirty bombs and other weapons.
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
$162-million lottery win challenged
CLEVELAND -- A woman turned in the winning $162-million Mega Millions lottery ticket Tuesday, saying she came forward sooner than planned because she was angered by another woman's claim that she bought the ticket and lost it.
Both women now lay claim to the winnings.
2 bombs and 17 deaths end Afghan celebration
KABUL, Afghanistan -- At least 17 people -- many of them children -- were killed and dozens wounded in a double bomb blast in the southern town of Kandahar on Tuesday, shattering the optimism of the country a day after it adopted a new constitution.
Across the nation
A federal three-judge panel upheld a new Republican-backed congressional map for Texas on Tuesday that passed in the Legislature after months of debate and two walkouts by Democrats.
The decision followed a December trial on the heated redistricting issue.
Around the world
Searchers located one of the black box flight-data recorders Tuesday from a charter jet that crashed into the Red Sea last weekend, but it was too far under the water to be immediately retrieved, a French official said.
Rear Adm. Jacques Mazars said that more advanced equipment was needed to retrieve the box, which was believed to be at least 2,000 feetbelow the sea's surface.
Ask the Free Press
QUESTION: What is the environmental impact of the loss of evergreens for producing Christmas trees?
ANSWER: In places like the United States, where a big industry grows Christmas trees rather than having people raid forests, growers say the loss of the trees' services to absorb greenhouse gases is minimized.
Bush seeks immigration overhaul
WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush will outline plans today for an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws that could give legal status to millions of undocumented workers.
Car chase, jammed gun stop fugitive in Montana
Ervin Brown pointed a shotgun at Montana Highway Patrol troopers with the intent of killing again Tuesday morning.
He pulled the trigger twice. The gun jammed both times. Then, the 41-year-old convicted murderer who escaped from a state prison in Detroit on Friday was arrested in a roadside ditch on Interstate 90, near Billings, Mont.
News from deep space
Driving on Mars: Good news and photos continue to be transmitted from the martian surface by the rover Spirit as NASA engineers talked Tuesday about the machine's first drive on the planet.
Nuclear neighbors to hold peace talks
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Two years after nuclear-armed India and Pakistan nearly went to war, their leaders agreed Tuesday to hold landmark peace talks next month on all topics, including the hot-button issue of Kashmir.
"I think the victory is for the world," Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared, though observers cautioned a lasting peace is far from assured.
U.S. plans the release of 506 Iraqi prisoners
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. officials will announce today the release of 506 Iraqis swept up in raids and cash bounties for a second tier of most-wanted figures from the former government.
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Across the nation
U.S. agriculture officials said Monday they will kill 450 calves in a Washington state herd that includes an offspring of the cow diagnosed with mad cow disease.
The month-old calves will be slaughtered this week at an undisclosed facility, said Ron DeHaven, the Agriculture Department's chief veterinarian.
Angry old word, new target
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- College students whisper the word when they spot U.S. troops in Baghdad streets. Vandals scrawl the word across military vehicles. Sneering taxi drivers mutter it when convoys block their cabs.
Around the world
Iran is considering moving its capital from Tehran after the earthquake last month that devastated the southern city of Bam, killing more than one-third of the population there.
Tehran is on a major seismological fault, and experts have long warned that an earthquake could be catastrophic.
Ask the Free Press
QUESTION: The first President George Bush was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Several other U.S. presidents also have been knighted. Was President Bill Clinton among them?
ANSWER: No. The only U.S. presidents receiving honorary knighthoods -- formally members of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire -- were George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
Dems blast Bush on education
ST. LOUIS -- Two years after President George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy joined forces to pass a landmark education law, the Massachusetts Democrat and others in his party are accusing Bush of turning his back on the legislation.
Dismantling plan to stand, Sharon says
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told angry leaders of his Likud Party on Monday that Israel will dismantle Jewish settlements as part of any peace deal, and he was prepared to act despite opposition.
More letter bombs reach EU officials
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Two more letter bombs addressed to senior members of the European Parliament burst into flames and another was intercepted Monday -- the seventh since Dec. 27 -- leading to a review of security at the European Union.
N. Korea offers halt on nuclear weapons
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea offered today to refrain from producing nuclear weapons as a "bold concession" to rekindle talks over its arms program.
The move comes as the United States, China, Russia, Japan and the two Koreas scramble to arrange a new round of negotiations. South Korea and Russian officials said Monday talks were unlikely this month.
Planned power plant raises pollution issue
MANISTEE -- A proposed coal-fired power plant has ignited a debate between city officials hoping for an economic boon and residents fearing pollution.
Rover's pictures show Mars in 3D
PASADENA, Calif. -- Combining 21st-Century rocket science and 1950s B-movie technology, NASA released a 3D, black-and-white panoramic picture Monday of the bleak surface of Mars, snapped by the newly landed rover Spirit.
Reporters at a news conference were issued cardboard 3D glasses to look at the 360-degree image of a desolate, wind-scoured plain strewn with rocks.
SS433: Double-star object, black hole are part of astronomy study
ATLANTA -- Gas from a massive star is being stripped by a black hole and turned into high-speed jets that streak into space, according to a new study of a bizarredouble-star object.
Monday, January 5, 2004
Across the nation
A teenager whose life sentence for beating a 6-year-old playmate to death was thrown out signed documents Sunday pleading guilty to second-degree murder in a deal that could get him out of prison as early as this month.
Agreement solidifies Afghan law
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghans approved a new constitution Sunday, embracing a deal to cement a fragile peace and push ahead with reconstruction two years after a U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime.
Around the world
British Prime Minister Tony Blair surprised British troops stationed in southern Iraq on Sunday, paying them a quick post-holiday visit to survey their progress and extol them as "the new pioneers of soldiering in the 21st century."
About 11,000 British troops are stationed in the southeast region and 52 British soldiers have died since the occupation of Iraq began last spring.
Photos from Mars elicit applause from scientists
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Spirit rover has sent its first images from Mars, showing a landscape scattered with small rocks that brought cheers from scientists.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began receiving the first of an estimated 60 to 80 images from Spirit's cameras late Saturday, three hours after the robot made an apparently flawless landing on Mars.
Saturday, January 3, 2004
Across the nation
Terror concerns prompted the disruption of about a half-dozen flights in recent days, as U.S. authorities tightened the air safety net around the country Friday with flight cancellations and airline searches on some planes.
Around the world
The impoverished nations of South Asia agreed Friday on the framework for a free trade zone that would encompass one-fifth of the world's population.
The broad framework of the accord, which would start tearing down tariffs by Jan. 1, 2006, was reached during talks in Islamabad by foreign ministers of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives and Bhutan.
Attacks on U.S. in Iraq rise since Hussein's capture
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein's capture three weeks ago hasn't slowed the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq, which now seems more entrenched than ever, according to a review of recent attacks and interviews with U.S. and Iraqi officials.
News from the final frontier
Encounter with comet: A NASA spacecraft flew through the bright halo of a comet Friday, 242 million miles from Earth, grabbing tiny pieces of primordial ice and dust while snapping photographs of the spectacular encounter in a bid to understand how our solar system was formed.
U.S. aid declined by Iran's leaders
WASHINGTON -- Iran turned down a U.S. offer on Friday to send a high-level humanitarian delegation led by Sen. Elizabeth Dole to assist with earthquake recovery efforts. Refusing the offer underscores the obstacles to rapprochement with the Islamic theocracy.
U.S. representative switches to the GOP
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Ralph Hall, a longtime Texas Democrat who once said it was his duty to remain in his party and pull it "back to the middle," announced Friday night that he will become a Republican, a switch that will virtually assure his re-election and help Republicans maintain control of the House.
Visits to N. Korea spur U.S. warning
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration warned Friday that private visits to North Korea's nuclear complex shouldn't interfere with efforts to reconvene international talks on dismantling the country's nuclear weapons program.
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