Iraqi militant group confesses to Irbil suicide bombings\nTIKRIT, Iraq -- An Iraqi militant group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in Irbil, and a senior U.S. commander blamed recent attacks on insurgents seeking to sabotage a future independent Iraqi government.\nIn the latest violence, insurgents fired a mortar Thursday at a checkpoint near Baghdad International Airport, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding another, the U.S. command said.\nThe attack outside the airport, which serves as a major American military base, brought to 529 the number of American service members who have died since the Iraq conflict began March 20.\nOn Tuesday, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the offices of two Kurdish parties in the northern city of Irbil on Sunday, killing 109 people.
Mass. lawmakers deal with same-sex marriage ruling\nBOSTON -- Legislators opposed to gay marriage were coming up with ways Thursday to circumvent a Massachusetts court ruling that paves the way for same-sex marriages as early as May. House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who opposes gay marriage, wants the high court to delay when its ruling takes effect until voters have considered a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a heterosexual union.
German court acquits Moroccan Sept. 11 suspect\nHAMBURG, Germany -- A Hamburg court reluctantly acquitted a Moroccan man Thursday of helping the Sept. 11 hijackers, capping weeks of wrangling by prosecutors trying to salvage their case with new evidence and testimony.\nAbdelghani Mzoudi -- who signed the will of lead hijacker Mohamed Atta -- was cleared of more than 3,000 counts of accessory to murder and charges of belonging to a terrorist organization in only the second trial anywhere of a Sept. 11 suspect.
Hopes dim of finding survivors in collapsed building in Turkey; death toll at 40\nKONYA, Turkey -- Rescue workers pulled two more bodies from the debris of a collapsed apartment building in central Turkey on Thursday, raising the death toll to 40.\nThere was little hope of finding more survivors four days after the building crumbled, though more than 60 people were believed to be trapped inside.\nPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to punish those responsible for the collapse of the building, which was only five years old and considered upscale in Konya. Grieving relatives lashed out at the contractors who built it.
U.N. experts approve limited animal vaccinations in bird flu crisis\nROME -- U.N. experts approved limited animal vaccinations Thursday in Asia's bird flu crisis to avoid a mass slaughter of livestock in the affected countries.\nAfter a two-day conference, experts said the cautious use of vaccinations could create buffer zones around already infected areas to keep the disease from spreading further.\nHard-hit Vietnam, meanwhile, ordered a nationwide a ban on sales of all live chickens and poultry products, and a top Chinese official said his country's size and still-developing disease reporting systems have made it "weak and vulnerable" to bird flu.
CIA Boss: Iraq Never an Imminent Threat\nWASHINGTON -- In his first public defense of prewar intelligence, CIA Director George Tenet said Thursday that U.S. analysts had never claimed Iraq was an imminent threat, the main argument used by President Bush for going to war. Tenet said analysts had varying opinions on the state of Iraq's chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs and those differences were spelled out in the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate given to the White House. That report summarized intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs.
Pakistan President Pardons Nuke Scientist\nISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pardoned the father of Pakistan's nuclear program Thursday for giving technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. The Pakistani leader's pardon headed off a showdown with the political and religious groups which strongly opposed punishment for Abdul Qadeer Khan.
