world

Fast-spreading blaze rages through SoCal neighborhood

By Alyson Brodsy and Gillian Flaccus · Thursday, Sept. 29,2005 11:56 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- A wind-whipped 17,000--acre wildfire raced across hills and canyons along the city's northwestern edge Thursday, threatening homes and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate. Some 3,000 firefighters aided by aircraft struggled to protect ridgetop houses along the Los Angeles-Ventura county line, a rugged, brushy landscape west of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Officials said the blaze was 5 percent contained as it burned toward such communities as Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Calabasas and Agoura.

Roberts becomes 17th chief justice

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Thursday, Sept. 29,2005 11:54 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- John G. Roberts Jr., a conservative protégé of the late William H. Rehnquist, succeeded him Thursday and became the nation's youngest chief justice in two centuries, winning support from more than three-fourths of the Senate after promising he would be no ideologue. Roberts, at 50, becomes the 17th chief justice, presiding over a Supreme Court that seems as divided as the nation over abortion and other tumultuous social issues. The court opens a new term on Monday.

U.S. House leader indicted, steps down

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Sept. 29,2005 1:56 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A Texas grand jury Wednesday indicted Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates on charges of conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post. A defiant DeLay insisted he was innocent and called the prosecutor a "partisan fanatic." "I have done nothing wrong. ... I am innocent," DeLay told a Capitol Hill news conference during which he criticized the Texas prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, repeatedly. DeLay, R-Texas, said the charges amounted to "one of the weakest and most baseless indictments in American history."

Iraq's 1st female suicide bomber kills 6, wounds 35

By Alyson Brodsy and Lee Keath · Thursday, Sept. 29,2005 12:08 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The woman slipped into the town, passing checkpoints where women are not searched. Then, donning a man's "dishdasha" -- a traditional white robe -- and kaffiya headscarf, she blended in with the men waiting in line to join the Iraqi army.

Senators complain White House blocking aid to hurricane victims

By Alyson Brodsy and Hope Yen · Thursday, Sept. 29,2005 12:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- With Gulf Coast governors pressing for action, Senate Finance Committee members complained Wednesday the Bush administration is blocking a bipartisan $9 billion health care package for hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Supreme Court to hear arguments next week in Oregon's 'right-to-die' suicide law

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Sept. 28,2005 11:59 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Julie McMurchie and her four siblings watched as their 68-year-old mother, Peggy Sutherland, lifted a lethal dose of barbiturates to her lips.

Greenspan cautions investors

By Alyson Brodsy and Jeannine Aversa · Wednesday, Sept. 28,2005 12:56 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan issued a fresh warning Tuesday that investors shouldn't be lulled into a false sense of security by the economy's long stretch of low interest rates.

Top al-Qaida official in Iraq killed

By Alyson Brodsy and Thomas Wagner · Wednesday, Sept. 28,2005 12:56 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. and Iraqi authorities said Tuesday their forces had killed the No. 2 official in the al-Qaida organization in Iraq in a weekend raid in Baghdad, claiming to have struck a "painful blow" to the country's most feared insurgent group.

Former FEMA director bashes federal, state gov't

By Alyson Brodsy and Lara Jakes Jordan · Wednesday, Sept. 28,2005 12:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- An angry Michael Brown blamed the Louisiana governor, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the dismal response to Hurricane Katrina in a fiery appearance Tuesday before Congress. In response, lawmakers alternately lambasted and mocked the former Federal Emergency Management Agency director.

Roberts heads to likely confirmation

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 26,2005 11:42 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- John Roberts, hailed by supporters as "the brightest of the bright," cruised Monday toward easy confirmation as chief justice while President Bush hinted that his next pick to the Supreme Court could be a minority or a woman. "Diversity is one of the strengths of the country," the president said. Roberts, the president's first pick for the Supreme Court, is assured of getting an overwhelming confirmation vote by the Senate later this week, making him the nation's 17th chief justice.

Soldier guilty for maltreatment at Abu Ghraib prison

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 26,2005 11:41 p.m.

FORT HOOD, Texas -- Army Pfc. Lynndie England, whose smiling poses in photos of detainee abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison made her the face of the scandal, was convicted Monday by a military jury on six of seven counts. England, 22, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She was acquitted on a second conspiracy count.

Sharon wins narrow vote in key Likud referendum

By Steve Weizman · Monday, Sept. 26,2005 11:39 p.m.

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon survived a major challenge to his leadership in the party he helped found, narrowly claiming victory Monday in a vote widely seen as a referendum on his rule and the recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The victory capped a dramatic comeback for Sharon, who has been vilified by Likud Party hard-liners for his recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and who had been trailing in recent opinion polls. Sharon's supporters said the victory meant the prime minister would push forward with his peace efforts.

Cheney in good condition after aneurysm surgery

By Alyson Brodsy and Nedra Pickler · Monday, Sept. 26,2005 12:10 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Dick Cheney walked slowly out of the hospital Sunday, one day after surgery to repair aneurysms on the back of both his knees. Cheney emerged from George Washington University Hospital in the late morning with his wife, Lynne, at his side. He shook hands with doctors and then walked to his motorcade without any assistance, although he moved slower than his normally brisk pace.

Rita damage falls short of fear

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 26,2005 12:08 a.m.

PERRY, La. -- For the storm-shattered Gulf Coast, the images were all too familiar: Tiny fishing villages in splinters. Refrigerators and coffins bobbing in floodwaters. Helicopters and rescue boats making house-to-house searches of residents stranded on rooftops.

Roberts nomination heads to Senate for confirmation as chief justice

By Alyson Brodsy and David Espo · Friday, Sept. 23,2005 12:41 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- John Roberts' nomination as chief justice cleared a Senate committee on a bipartisan vote of 13-5 Thursday, with next week's confirmation so certain that Republicans and Democrats turned increasing attention to President Bush's choice to fill a second Supreme Court vacancy.

Shiite cleric endorses constitution

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Sept. 23,2005 12:40 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The country's most powerful Shiite cleric endorsed the draft constitution Thursday, rejecting opposition voiced by two popular leaders of Iraq's majority sect and underlining a rift also on display in anti-British violence in the southern city of Basra.

Rita's rain likely to re-flood hard-hit New Orleans

By Alyson Brodsy and Michelle Roberts · Friday, Sept. 23,2005 12:39 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- In a grim opening salvo from Hurricane Rita, a steady rain began falling Thursday on New Orleans for the first time since Katrina laid waste to the city, and engineers rushed to shore up the broken levees for fear of another ruinous round of flooding. The forecast called for 3 to 5 inches of rain in New Orleans in the coming days. That is dangerously close to the amount engineers said could send floodwaters pouring back into neighborhoods that have been dry for less than a week.

Katrina death toll climbs past 1,000 mark

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Sept. 22,2005 12:06 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Katrina's death toll across the Gulf Coast climbed past the 1,000 mark Wednesday, with the body count in Louisiana alone reaching 799. The new figure of 1,036 was released as New Orleans braced for the outside possibility that Hurricane Rita, swirling across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas with 150 mph winds, could swamp the city's damaged levees and inflict new misery on the Big Easy.

Roberts picks up Democratic support

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Thursday, Sept. 22,2005 12:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Chief justice-nominee John Roberts, his confirmation secure, picked up support from fractured Senate Democrats Wednesday as President Bush met lawmakers to discuss a second vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Hurricane Rita becomes Category 5 storm

By Alyson Brodsy and Pam Easton · Thursday, Sept. 22,2005 12:01 a.m.

GALVESTON, Texas -- Gaining strength with frightening speed, Hurricane Rita swirled toward the Gulf Coast a Category 5, 165-mph monster Wednesday as more than 1.3 million people in Texas and Louisiana were sent packing on orders from authorities who learned a bitter lesson from Katrina.