world

Countries denounce Iran nuclear program

By Alyson Brodsy and Beth Gardiner · Tuesday, Jan. 17,2006 1:14 a.m.

LONDON -- Russia and China agreed with the United States and its European allies Monday that Iran must fully suspend its nuclear program, but the countries stopped short of demanding referral to the U.N. Security Council, Britain's Foreign Office said. Iran's ambassador to Moscow praised a Russian proposal to move the Iranian uranium enrichment program to its territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin also urged caution in dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue, saying that Tehran might still agree to the Russian offer and warning "it's necessary to work carefully and avoid any sharp, erroneous moves."

College professors using culturally relevant 'South Park' in classrooms

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Jan. 13,2006 12:28 a.m.

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- As "South Park" moves out of its ninth season it makes its first move into academia.

Bush tours Katrina- damaged Gulf Coast

By Alyson Brodsy and Nedra Pickler · Thursday, Jan. 12,2006 11:53 p.m.

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. -- President Bush, visiting the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast Thursday for the first time in three months, hailed marked improvement despite warnings to lower his expectations about the pace of recovery.

At least 345 dead after pilgrimage stampede

By Alyson Brodsy and Salah Nasrawi · Thursday, Jan. 12,2006 11:52 p.m.

MINA, Saudi Arabia -- Thousands of Muslim pilgrims rushing to complete a symbolic stoning ritual during the hajj tripped over luggage Thursday, causing a crush in which at least 345 people were killed despite Saudi attempts to prevent stampedes that have plagued the annual event.

Tempers flare in Alito hearings

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Wednesday, Jan. 11,2006 11:12 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito was aggressively questioned Wednesday by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who accused him of inconsistencies dealing with issues ranging from voting rights to ethics to his membership in a conservative organization. On the third day of confirmation hearings, Democrats also expressed frustration as Alito described the landmark 1973 ruling legalizing abortion as "an important precedent" but declined to echo Chief Justice John Roberts, who has called it settled law. Republicans on the panel dismissed the criticism and defended Alito, President Bush's choice to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, as a conservative jurist with a solid 15-year record on the federal appeals court.

Bush defends spying progams

By Alyson Brodsy and Deb Riechmann · Wednesday, Jan. 11,2006 11:11 p.m.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- President Bush said Wednesday that congressional hearings to investigate his domestic eavesdropping program will be good for democracy as long as they don't give secrets away to the enemy. Bush was initially opposed to having the program investigated in a public format, but made it clear he is resigned to open hearings scheduled to begin in coming weeks. Bush's decision to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor -- without warrants -- people inside the United States has sparked a flurry of questions about the program's legal justification.

Bush warns Democrats about criticizing Iraq policy

By Alyson Brodsy and Jennifer Loven · Wednesday, Jan. 11,2006 12:36 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush warned Democratic critics of his Iraq policy on Tuesday to watch what they say or risk giving "comfort to our adversaries" and suffering at the ballot box in November. Democrats said Bush should take his own advice.

Iran resumes uranium enrichment

By Alyson Brodsy and Ali Akbar Dareini · Tuesday, Jan. 10,2006 11:54 p.m.

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran removed U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment and resumed nuclear research Tuesday, defying demands it maintain a two-year freeze on its nuclear program and sparking an outcry from the United States and Europe.

Alito questioned on abortion, executive powers

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Tuesday, Jan. 10,2006 11:53 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said Tuesday he would deal with the issue of abortion with an open mind as a justice.

Congessmen Blunt, Boehner vie for Majority Leadership, claim progress

By Alyson Brodsy and Andrew Taylor · Tuesday, Jan. 10,2006 12:46 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Reps. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and John Boehner, R-Ohio, rivals in the race to succeed Majority Leader Tom DeLay, both claimed progress Monday and released the names of supporters to prove it. The two men maneuvered for support as Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia claimed the votes needed to move up the leadership ladder when elections are held early next month. "He has 140 firm commitments for majority whip," said Cantor's spokesman, Rob Collins. He declined to provide a list.

Dow Jones tops 11,000 as blue chip stocks continue to rally

By Alyson Brodsy and Christopher Wang · Tuesday, Jan. 10,2006 12:45 a.m.

NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 11,000 Monday for the first time since before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, buoyed by a rally that has sent stock prices soaring through the first five sessions of 2006. Wall Street's best known stock indicator rose as high as 11,020.15 by mid-afternoon, the first time since June 13, 2001, that the index of 30 blue chip stocks traded above 11,000. It last closed above that milestone on June 7, 2001, when it stood at 11,090.74.

Iraqi police search for kidnapped American journalist following weekend abduction

By Alyson Brodsy and Patrick Quinn · Tuesday, Jan. 10,2006 12:44 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi police were searching Monday for an American journalist who was kidnapped during the weekend when gunmen ambushed her car and killed her translator in western Baghdad. Jill Carroll, 28, a freelance reporter on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor, was seized Saturday in the al-Adel area, a Sunni Arab neighborhood and one of the capital's most dangerous. Police said she went there to meet a Sunni Arab politician. Gen. Mahdi al-Gharawi, commander of the Interior Ministry's public order forces, said Monday an investigation was under way.

Congress opens Alito Supreme Court nomination hearings

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Tuesday, Jan. 10,2006 12:43 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito said Monday that judges should operate free of any agenda or preferred outcome as the Senate opened hearings on President Bush's choice for the high court. "A judge can't have any agenda. A judge can't have a preferred outcome in any case," Alito told the Senate Judiciary Committee in a brief statement in which he made the distinction between judges and attorneys working for clients. In a prelude to days of grilling, several Democrats expressed misgivings about Alito's 15 years of decisions and opinions as an appellate judge and his writings during his tenure as a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department.

NASA to return first comet samples

By Alyson Brodsy and Alicia Chang · Tuesday, Jan. 10,2006 12:41 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Comets have long lit up the sky and the imaginations of scientists. Now these icy bodies from the beginnings of the solar system are finally ready for their close-up. Six months after NASA scientists first peeked inside one comet from afar, they're bringing pieces of another to Earth for study under the microscope. This weekend, the Stardust spacecraft will jettison a 100-pound capsule holding comet dust. It will nosedive through the Earth's atmosphere and, if all goes well, make a soft landing in the Utah desert.

Bird Flu fears rise as disease spreads

By Alyson Brodsy and Benjamin Harvey · Monday, Jan. 9,2006 12:06 a.m.

DOGUBAYAZIT, Turkey -- Fears rose Sunday that a deadly strain of bird flu was spreading in Turkey after preliminary tests showed two children and an adult tested positive for the virus in Ankara -- the first known cases outside an eastern region of the country. Health officials cautioned that the H5N1 strain so far has only been confirmed in humans who were in close and prolonged contact with fowl but said they were monitoring the virus for fear it could mutate into a form easily transmissible among humans and spark a pandemic.

Senators talk tough before Alito hearings

By Jesse J. Holland · Monday, Jan. 9,2006 12:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Samuel A. Alito Jr. has a lot of explaining to do before senators are ready to put him on the Supreme Court. And Democrats say if they don't like what the federal judge says -- or doesn't say -- at this week's confirmation hearing, the president's nominee could run into trouble. "This is basically up to Judge Alito. Does he answer the questions, or doesn't he?" said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I would hope he answers the questions. If he doesn't answer the questions, then we have a very real issue here." Democrats say they will not decide whether to filibuster or try to delay a committee vote until after the committee's weeklong hearings that begin Monday.

12 killed as Black Hawk helicopter crashes in Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer N. Yacoub · Monday, Jan. 9,2006 12:05 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, killing all 12 Americans believed to be aboard, while five U.S. Marines were slain in separate weekend attacks, the military said Sunday. The deaths came as Iraqi police said a kidnapped French engineer was released by his captors.

West Virginia 'miracle' a mirage

By Michael Sanserino · Friday, Jan. 6,2006 12:21 a.m.

A West Virginian explosion that took the lives of 12 coal miners created confusion for Hoosier media audiences and editors. Initial reports from the Associated Press that surfaced late Tuesday night said 12 of 13 miners had been found alive and many newspapers, including The Bloomington Herald-Times and The Indianapolis Star, published reports in their Wednesday editions that said the miners had been found alive.

130, with 5 U.S. soldiers, killed in Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer Yacoub · Friday, Jan. 6,2006 12:13 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in the south and police recruits in central Iraq, and a roadside bomb killed five U.S. soldiers, bringing Thursday's death toll to at least 130 people in a series of attacks as politicians tried to form a coalition government.

Deceased coal miners left farewell notes to families

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Jan. 5,2006 10:51 p.m.

TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. -- Some of the 12 coal miners who died in the Sago Mine disaster left farewell notes assuring their loved ones that their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said Thursday. "The notes said they weren't suffering, they were just going to sleep," said Peggy Cohen, who had been called to a temporary morgue at a school to identify the body of her father, 59-year-old machine operator Fred Ware Jr. Cohen said that there was no note on Ware's body, but that she planned to retrieve his belongings to see if he put one in his lunch box.