world

Rumsfeld: China understating military spending

By Alyson Brodsy and Robert Burns · Wednesday, Oct. 19,2005 1:16 a.m.

BEIJING -- China is raising global suspicion about its military intentions by failing to acknowledge the true size of recent increases in its defense spending, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. On his first trip to China as President Bush's Pentagon chief, Rumsfeld is meeting with government officials and senior military leaders in advance of Bush's planned visit next month. A Chinese spokesman said he hoped Rumsfeld's visit "would increase his understanding" of China's policy. Rumsfeld will speak Wednesday at the Central Party School, the Communist Party's top training center for mid-career members and its main ideological think tank. President Hu Jintao was the school's president before he became the Communist Party general secretary in 2002.

Miers opposed abortion in 1989

By Alyson Brodsy and David Espo · Wednesday, Oct. 19,2005 12:34 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers pledged unflagging opposition to abortion as a candidate for the Dallas City Council in 1989, according to documents released Tuesday. She backed a constitutional amendment to ban the procedure in most cases and promised to appear at "pro-life rallies and special events."

Tropical storm on path toward Florida

By Alyson Brodsy and John Pain · Wednesday, Oct. 19,2005 12:33 a.m.

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Wilma strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday, on a path that could threaten storm-battered Florida, tying the record for the most hurricanes to form in an Atlantic season.

Saddam lawyer requests adjournment for dictator trial

By Alyson Brodsy and Hamza Hendawi · Wednesday, Oct. 19,2005 12:31 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein's lawyer said he will ask for a three-month adjournment when the former dictator's trial for a 1982 massacre begins Wednesday and will challenge the court's competence to hear the case.

Commission rejects national retail sales tax proposition

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:07 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's tax commission has rejected the idea of a national sales tax and has voiced strong misgivings over European-style consumption taxes, drawing complaints of timidity from critics who wanted the panel to scrap the income tax.

DeLay avoided plea deal to save leadership job

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:04 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A Texas prosecutor offered Rep. Tom DeLay a deal to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and save his job as majority leader, but DeLay chose to fight felony charges instead, the congressman's attorney said Monday. Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's lawyer, described the offer in a letter to the prosecutor as he filed motions in Austin to dismiss felony indictments and -- barring dismissal of the case -- to seek a speedy trial.

Avian flu threat highest in Asia, expected to spread

By Alyson Brodsy and Emma Ross · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:03 a.m.

LONDON -- Bird flu can be expected to spread to other countries, but the biggest threat of it mutating into a human virus that could kill millions across the world remains in Asia, the World Health Organization said Monday. Tests on birds from Romania confirmed the arrival of bird flu in Europe on Saturday, two days after it was verified on Europe's doorstep in the Asian part of Turkey.

High court rejects $280B tobacco suit

By Alyson Brodsy and Gina Holland · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1:01 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to let the government sue tobacco companies for $280 billion, a major victory for cigarette makers. A federal judge presided over a nine-month trial and has not yet decided whether tobacco companies are guilty of wrongdoing. The fight at the high court was over the amount of money the companies would have to pay if the judge rules that they violated a federal anti-racketeering law known as RICO by misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.

Tropical Storm Wilma strengthens in Caribbean, aims for Gulf Coast

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 1 a.m.

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Wilma strengthened Monday after forming in the northwestern Caribbean, tying the record for the most named storms in an Atlantic season and following a path that some forecasters believe could menace the Gulf Coast next week as a hurricane.

Murder rate hits 40-year low; all major crime rates down

By Alyson Brodsy and Michael J. Sniffen · Tuesday, Oct. 18,2005 12:59 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's murder rate declined last year for the first time in four years, dropping to the lowest level in 40 years. Experts said local rather than national trends were mostly responsible. The rates for all seven major crimes were down and the overall violent crime rate reached a 30-year low, according to the FBI's annual compilation of crimes reported to the police.

Ohio crowd destroys vehicles, throws rocks at police while protesting Nazis

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Oct. 17,2005 12:13 a.m.

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Police began receiving word midweek that gangs were going to descend on a neighborhood where a riot erupted over a planned march by a white supremacist group, but the resulting disturbance was worse than expected, the police chief said Sunday.

Sunnis fall short of blocking Iraqi constiution passage

By Alyson Brodsy and Lee Keath · Monday, Oct. 17,2005 12:13 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's landmark constitution seemed assured of passage Sunday after initial results showed minority Sunni Arabs had fallen short in an effort to veto it at the polls. The apparent acceptance was a major step in the attempt to establish a democratic government that could lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

U.N. official: Earthquake relief effort needs helicopters, financial support

By Alyson Brodsy and Nick Wadhams · Friday, Oct. 14,2005 1:16 a.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- Relief crews need helicopters and cash more than anything else to help the estimated 4 million people affected by the earthquake in the disputed Kashmir region, a U.N. official said Thursday.

Russian rebels attack police, government offices; 85 dead

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Oct. 14,2005 1:15 a.m.

NALCHIK, Russia -- Militants attacked police and government buildings in Russia's volatile Caucasus region Thursday, taking hostages and turning a provincial capital into a war zone wracked by gunfire and explosions that left at least 85, mostly insurgents, dead.

Fears of attacks loom as Iraq readies for constitutional vote

By Alyson Brodsy and Antonio Castaneda · Friday, Oct. 14,2005 1:13 a.m.

HADITHA, Iraq -- U.S. Marines handed out thousands of fliers and copies of Iraq's new constitution Thursday, urging people to vote in this Sunni Arab town that only a week ago was the target of U.S. airstrikes.

Lawyer: Medical marijuana patient taken from Canada to face charge in U.S.

By Alyson Brodsy and Gene Johnson · Thursday, Oct. 13,2005 1:27 a.m.

SEATTLE -- An Army veteran who fled to Canada to avoid prosecution for growing marijuana to treat his chronic pain was yanked from a hospital by Canadian authorities, driven to the border with a catheter still attached, and turned over to U.S. officials, his lawyer says. He then went five days with no medical treatment and only ibuprofen for the pain, attorney Douglas Hiatt said. Steven W. Tuck, 38, was still fitted with the urinary catheter when he shuffled into federal court for a detention hearing Wednesday, Hiatt said. "This is totally inhumane. He's been tortured for days for no reason," Hiatt said.

Geography matters in marriage age

By Alyson Brodsy and Stephen Ohlemacher · Wednesday, Oct. 12,2005 11:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Couples in the Northeast are hearing wedding bells later than men and women elsewhere in the country, especially in Utah, where younger newlyweds are the norm.

Bush: Faith important to Miers

By Deb Riechmann · Wednesday, Oct. 12,2005 11:28 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Religion was an issue the White House avoided in pushing the nomination of John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States a month ago. For Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court, President Bush and his top aides are taking a different tack. Trying to patch a growing fissure in the Republican Party over Miers, the president is openly talking about her conservative religious beliefs.

New Orleans police deny excessive force

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Oct. 12,2005 11:27 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- A police union official and a lawyer for officers accused in the beating of a retired teacher on Wednesday sharply disputed the man's contention he was brutalized during his arrest, which was captured on video.

UN exploring ways to speed up avian flu vaccine

By Alyson Brodsy and Frances D'Emilio · Wednesday, Oct. 12,2005 11:27 p.m.

ROME -- U.N. officials said Tuesday they are exploring ways to step up the production of a vaccine in case bird flu mutates and sparks a human flu pandemic.