world

Kerry, other Democrats threaten to filibuster Alito

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Thursday, Jan. 26,2006 11:50 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Die-hard Democratic critics of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito threatened Thursday to block a vote on his confirmation, and Republicans countered with a move designed to force his approval by early next week.

Military releases 5 Iraqi women detainees

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer N. Yacoub · Thursday, Jan. 26,2006 11:50 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military released five Iraqi women detainees Thursday, a move demanded by the kidnappers of an American reporter to spare her life, but an official said the release was coincidental.

Bush says U.S. will not deal with Hamas

By Alyson Brodsy and Anne Gearan · Thursday, Jan. 26,2006 11:48 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- After making democracy a defining marker of American foreign policy, President Bush got a jolting message from Palestinian voters: Be careful what you wish for.

Exit polls show Fatah win, Hamas finishes in close 2nd

By Alyson Brodsy and Karin Laub · Thursday, Jan. 26,2006 12:18 a.m.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Amid tight security and a sea of green and yellow flags, Palestinians turned out in record numbers Wednesday for their first parliamentary election in a decade. Exit polls projected that the ruling Fatah Party would win the most seats, but showed that Islamic militants made a strong showing. Voter turnout in the historic balloting was 77.7 percent of 1.3 million eligible voters, according to the Central Election Commission. In the 1996 parliamentary election, turnout was about 75 percent.

Bush gives speech to ultra-secret NSA

By Alyson Brodsy and Nedra Pickler · Thursday, Jan. 26,2006 12:18 a.m.

FORT MEADE, Md. -- President Bush paid an in-person visit to the ultra-secret National Security Agency on Wednesday to underscore the importance of his controversial order authorizing domestic surveillance without warrants in the terrorism era. "We must learn the intentions of the enemies before they strike," Bush said. "That's what they do here. They work to protect us." Bush's stop at the heavily secured site of the super-secret spy agency in suburban Maryland had two purposes. He was aiming to boost the morale of the people carrying out the work of a 4-year-old domestic spying program in which the government monitors the international communications of people inside the United States whom it believes to have connections to the terrorist network al-Qaida. The president is also leading a wide-ranging campaign by his administration to defend the program, under fire from Democrats and Republicans alike who argue that it might be illegal.

Saddam trial delayed until Sunday

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Jan. 25,2006 12 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The resumption of Saddam Hussein's trial was abruptly canceled Tuesday and postponed for five days in the latest turmoil to plague the court, as some on the panel hearing the case resisted a last-minute shake-up that brought in a new chief judge. Saddam's lawyers said the confusion showed the court could not give the ousted Iraqi leader a fair trial and was under too much political pressure.

Alito passes judiciary committee vote 10 to 8

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Tuesday, Jan. 24,2006 11:59 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Judiciary Committee favorably recommended Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate on a party-line vote Tuesday, moving the conservative jurist one step closer to joining the high court. All 10 Republicans voted for Alito, while all eight Democrats voted against him. The partisan vote was almost preordained, with 15 of the 18 senators announcing their votes even before the committee's session began.

Alito expected to be approved for full Senate vote today

By Ben Woodson · Tuesday, Jan. 24,2006 1:06 a.m.

The U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee is scheduled to decide today whether Samuel Alito, Bush's nominee for Supreme Court associate justice, will be voted on by all members of the Senate. The committee is expected to vote in favor of Alito on a party line vote. All 10 Republicans announced their support of the nominee and eight Democrats are expected to vote against his confirmation, according to The Associated Press. After the committee vote, the debate will go to the Senate floor, where the GOP holds a majority with 55 senators. During last week's Congressional hearings, Democrats pressed Alito on traditionally important issues for a Supreme Court nominee such as abortion, but because of the recent disclosure of Bush's controversial wiretapping program, executive power became one of the most important issues at the hearing.

Wiretapping program raises legal questions

By Anne Purcell · Tuesday, Jan. 24,2006 12:35 a.m.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration made a commitment to defeat terrorism in every way it knew possible. Now some people think it has gone too far. Last month, The New York Times reported that a government insider had leaked information showing that the Bush administration has been allowing the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless international wiretapping on calls from a person in the United States to a person abroad on terrorist suspects and those tied to terrorists since Sept. 11, 2001. Some claim what the president is doing is unconstitutional and illegal, while President Bush and supporters defend his right to exercise his commander-in-chief powers, overriding the other two branches of government for the sake of national security. Law professor Dawn Johnsen is troubled by Bush's policy.

Children, Iraqi police targeted in insurgent attacks

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer N. Yacoub · Monday, Jan. 23,2006 12:33 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at a policeman's home northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, killing his four children and his brother and raising the number of Iraqis killed in attacks this weekend to at least 23.

Thousands of Pakistanis protest U.S. airstrike

By Alyson Brodsy and Riaz Khan · Monday, Jan. 23,2006 12:32 a.m.

DAMADOLA, Pakistan -- Sympathy for al-Qaida has surged after a U.S. airstrike devastated this remote mountain hamlet in a region sometimes as hostile toward the Pakistani government as it is to the United States.

2nd mining tragedy brings calls for safety overhaul

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Jan. 23,2006 12:30 a.m.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In death, 14 West Virginia coal miners have achieved something that just a month ago seemed an unlikely goal: Labor, industry and lawmakers are united in demanding that a dangerous subterranean occupation be made safer. Hours after the bodies of two missing miners were found Saturday in Aracoma Coal's Alma No. 1 mine at Melville, Gov. Joe Manchin and West Virginia's congressional delegation called for a major overhaul of state and federal mine safety laws.

Bin Laden: Al-Qaida preparing new attacks

By Alyson Brodsy and Lee Keath · Friday, Jan. 20,2006 12:46 a.m.

CAIRO, Egypt -- Al-Jazeera on Thursday aired an audiotape from Osama bin Laden, who says al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offers a truce on "fair" but undefined conditions.

Simultaneous bombings in Baghdad kill more than a dozen Iraqis

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer N. Yacoub · Friday, Jan. 20,2006 12:11 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Two near-simultaneous bombings targeted a crowded downtown Baghdad coffee shop and a nearby restaurant Thursday, killing more than a dozen people. The attacks came as a foreign assessment team reported evidence of fraud in the Dec. 15 elections, but did not endorse calls for a rerun.

Roadside bomb kills 2 American contractors

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer N. Yacoub · Thursday, Jan. 19,2006 12:41 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying a U.S. security team near the southern city of Basra, killing two American civilians and seriously wounding a third, the U.S. Embassy said. Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, held out hope that kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll would be released. The U.S. Embassy said coalition forces cordoned off the scene of the Basra attack, which occurred at 2 p.m., and took the wounded to a hospital.

Sharon stroke leaves Israel at pivotal crossroad

By Ben Woodson · Thursday, Jan. 19,2006 12:39 a.m.

When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke Jan. 4, the future of Israeli politics was thrown into turmoil and the new election offers Israel a choice between two different ways to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, experts say. Sharon survived the stroke, but his doctors said that because of brain damage, he would be unable to serve as prime minister again, according to The Associated Press.

Pakistani authorities confirm terrorists killed in U.S. attack

By Alyson Brodsy and Riaz Khan · Wednesday, Jan. 18,2006 12:06 a.m.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- At least four foreign terrorists died in the purported U.S. airstrike aimed at al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in a Pakistani border village, the provincial government said Tuesday.

Group threatens to kill American journalist

By Alyson Brodsy and Steven R. Hurst · Wednesday, Jan. 18,2006 12:05 a.m.

CAIRO, Egypt -- An Arab television channel aired a silent 20-second videotape Tuesday night of hostage American reporter Jill Carroll and said an accompanying message gave the United States 72 hours to free female prisoners in Iraq or the journalist would be killed.

Supreme Court upholds Oregon assisted-suicide law

By Alyson Brodsy and Gina Holland · Wednesday, Jan. 18,2006 12:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the Bush administration's attempt to punish doctors who help terminally ill patients die, protecting Oregon's one-of-a-kind assisted-suicide law.

Gore claims Bush 'repeatedly' broke the law with wiretaps

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Jan. 17,2006 1:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Former Vice President Al Gore asserted Monday that President Bush "repeatedly and persistently" broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant and called for a federal investigation of the practice. Speaking on Martin Luther King Jr.'s national holiday, the man who lost the 2000 presidential election to Bush only after a ruling by the Supreme Court on a recount in Florida, called Bush's warrantless surveillance program "a threat to the very structure of our government." Gore charged that the program has ignored the checks and balances of the courts and Congress. Gore said that Bush's actions -- which the president has defended as indispensable in the war against terrorism -- represented a "direct assault" on the special federal court that considers, and decides whether to authorize, administration requests to eavesdrop on Americans.