world

5 college basketball players shot

By Alyson Brodsy and Alan Robinson · Sunday, Sept. 17,2006 10:48 p.m.

PITTSBURGH -- Five Duquesne University basketball players, all but one of them new players who enrolled only this month, were shot early Sunday morning during an apparent act of random violence on campus. Two players were in critical condition at a hospital.

Shoppers change their buying habits after E. coli contamination of spinach

By Alyson Brodsy and Robert Jablon · Sunday, Sept. 17,2006 10:46 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Shoppers changed their buying habits Saturday as spinach was pulled from grocery store shelves because of the outbreak of E. coli bacteria that had killed one person and sickened more than 100 others.

Deadly E. coli outbreak traced to bagged spinach spreads to ninth state

Friday, Sept. 15,2006 3:41 p.m.

WASHINGTON - Federal health officials worked Friday to find the source of a multistate E. coli outbreak and warned consumers -- including those Indiana -- that even washing the suspect spinach won't kill the sometimes-deadly bacteria.

Montreal gunman liked Columbine role-playing game

By Alyson Brodsy and Phil Couvrette · Thursday, Sept. 14,2006 10:41 p.m.

MONTREAL -- A man with a black trench coat whose shooting rampage in a Montreal college killed one person and wounded 19 others before he was slain by police said on a blog in his name that he liked to play a role-playing Internet game about the Columbine shootings.

Powell, Republican senators oppose alternative terrorist interrogation law

By Alyson Brodsy and Laurie Kellman · Thursday, Sept. 14,2006 10:35 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed efforts to block President Bush's plan to authorize harsh interrogations of terror suspects, even as Bush lobbied personally for it Thursday on Capitol Hill.

Gunman slays 1, wounds 19 at Montreal college before being killed by police

By Phil Couvrette · Thursday, Sept. 14,2006 12:26 a.m.

MONTREAL -- A young man in a black trench coat and a mohawk haircut opened fire Wednesday at a Montreal college, slaying a woman and wounding at least 19 other people before police shot and killed him, witnesses and authorities said.

South Korea signals continued support of U.S. alliance

By Foster Klug · Wednesday, Sept. 13,2006 10:48 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Wednesday that while his country's five-decade alliance with the United States is changing, Seoul will continue to support the U.S.-led fight against terrorism.

Iraqi police discover 65 tortured bodies

By Sameer N. Yacoub · Wednesday, Sept. 13,2006 10:45 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Police said they found the bodies of 65 men who had been tortured, shot and dumped, most around Baghdad, while car bombs and mortar attacks killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens more Wednesday.

Rhode Island, Arizona primary races in spotlight

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Sept. 12,2006 10:46 p.m.

An embattled Senate incumbent in Rhode Island and an open House seat in Arizona gave Republican primary voters a choice Tuesday between moderates and conservatives, as both parties watched the races with eyes on the larger fight for control of Congress.

Militants storm U.S. Embassy in Syria; no Americans hurt

By Alyson Brodsy and Sam F. Ghattas · Tuesday, Sept. 12,2006 10:45 p.m.

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Islamic militants tried to storm the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday using automatic rifles, hand grenades and a van rigged with explosives, the Syrian government said. Four people were killed in the brazen attack, including three of the assailants, but no Americans were hurt.

Iran vows to help protect Iraq border from millitants

By Alyson Brodsy and Ali Akbar Dareini · Tuesday, Sept. 12,2006 10:42 p.m.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iraq's prime minister made his first official visit to Iran on Tuesday, asking Tehran to prevent al-Qaida militants from slipping across the border to carry out attacks, an Iraqi official said. Iran's president promised to help Iraq establish security.

Security Council again seeks Darfur intervention government still resists

By Alyson Brodsy and Nick Wadhams · Tuesday, Sept. 12,2006 3:43 p.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and members of the U.N. Security Council took turns Monday demanding swift intervention to ease the mounting humanitarian crisis in Darfur, but the Sudanese government again resisted a U.N. peacekeeping force.

Bush urges Americans to fight to victory

By Alyson Brodsy and Terence Hunt · Tuesday, Sept. 12,2006 12:25 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Five years after the worst attack on U.S. soil, President George W. Bush said Monday night the war against terrorism is "the calling of our generation" and urged Americans to put aside differences and fight to victory.

Around the World

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 11,2006 11:19 p.m.

Florence knocks out power in Bermuda HAMILTON, Bermuda --Hurricane Florence knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses in Bermuda but was moving away from the wealthy British enclave Monday as tourists hunkered down inside resort hotels. The eye of Florence, the second hurricane of the Atlantic season, was churning northwest of Bermuda. It was spared a direct hit by the eye of the storm, but forecasters said hurricane-force winds extending up to 70 miles from the center could cause substantial damage.

Al-Qaida warns Persian Gulf countries are next targets

By Alyson Brodsy and Lee Keath · Monday, Sept. 11,2006 11:09 p.m.

CAIRO, Egypt -- Osama bin Laden's deputy warned that Persian Gulf countries and Israel would be al-Qaida's next targets, according to a new videotape aired by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera on Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Shuttle Atlantis docks with space station on 'very busy day'

By Alyson Brodsy and Mike Schneider · Monday, Sept. 11,2006 11:07 p.m.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- The crew of the international space station welcomed Atlantis' six astronauts on board Monday after the space shuttle arrived carrying the first new addition for the orbiting laboratory in more than 3 1/2 years.

Loved ones pay tribute to 2,749 Trade Center victims

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 11,2006 11:03 p.m.

NEW YORK -- Clutching photos to their hearts and blowing kisses to the sky, the tearful loved ones of the Sept. 11 victims recited a 3 1/2-hour litany of the lost Monday in a fifth-anniversary remembrance as spare and stark as the World Trade Center site itself.

Robbery, gun violence rose last year while overall crime reached 32-year low

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael J. Sniffen · Sunday, Sept. 10,2006 11:15 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Americans were robbed and victimized by gun violence at greater rates last year than the year before, even though overall violent and property crime reached a 32-year low, the Justice Department said Sunday. Experts said these increases buttress reports from the FBI and many mayors and police chiefs that violent crime is beginning to rise after a long decline. Bush administration officials expressed concern but stressed that it was too soon to tell if a new upward trend in violence had begun.

China tightens controls over news distribution, foreign media sales

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Sept. 10,2006 11:14 p.m.

SHANGHAI, China -- China tightened its control over the distribution of news by foreign agencies Sunday, further restricting international access to the already tightly regulated Chinese media market.

Reporter comes home after month in Sudanese prison on espionage charges

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Sept. 10,2006 11:13 p.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-- American journalist Paul Salopek returned home to New Mexico on Sunday, a day after being freed from prison in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region where he had been held for more than a month on espionage charges.