Reuters - The U.S. Marine
sergeant accused of leading a 2005 massacre of Iraqi civilians
in Haditha gunned down five unarmed men who were standing next
to a car after a roadside bombing, a Marine from his squad told
a military court on Friday.
AP - The woman musicians wore headscarves, but that didn’t hinder them in playing Beethoven and Brahms in a rare performance by a Western classical orchestra in the capital of the Islamic Republic.
AFP - The Svalbard archipelago near the North Pole is already seeing the dramatic effects of global warming: the mercury is rising twice as fast as elsewhere on the planet, posing a serious threat to the ecosystem.
AP - The Israeli military said Friday that three Gaza children killed this week were playing next to a rocket launcher when the army mistook them for militants and opened fire.
Reuters - A drug used to treat people infected
with the AIDS virus has shown promise as a possible future
weapon against cancer, U.S. researchers said on Friday.
CQPolitics.com - Congressional sources confirmed late Thursday that a military transport plane carrying three Republican senators and a Democratic representative was attacked by either missiles or rocket-propelled grenades after taking off from the Baghdad airport.
AP - When the cook on his shrimp boat went into labor 30 miles offshore, captain Ed Kiesel grabbed a new roll of paper towels and a first aid handbook and did the best he could.
AP - Sen. Tim Johnson endured some dark days after his life-threatening brain hemorrhage, but he says he never considered resigning.
AP - A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up near the gates of the Afghan capital’s airport Friday, killing one Afghan soldier and wounding six other people, officials and witnesses said.
AP - Consumer advocates and some lawmakers say that a Salinas Valley company’s recall of spinach because of a salmonella scare shows that the federal government must do more to protect the nation’s food supply, but industry officials call it proof that their voluntary regulations are working.
AP - A burglar visited Graeme Glass’ home in New Zealand twice in one day — first to steal some goods and later to return them, along with a heartfelt apology note.
AP - A man pleaded guilty in a scheme to buy thousands of submachine guns and sell them to Iranians opposed to Iran’s president, court records showed.
AP - A lawsuit alleging that Verizon Communications Inc. illegally turned over customer records as part of the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program should go forward because of a recent admission by the U.S. spy chief, lawyers argued Thursday.
AP - Excerpts from a transcript of Minneapolis Airport Police’s tape-recorded interrogation of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, upon Craig’s arrest on June 11 by Sgt. Dave Karsnia. The transcript was provided by the Metropolitan Airports Commission in Minneapolis.
AP - The International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday reported “significant” cooperation from Iran with its nuclear probe but noted it was still enriching uranium, prompting calls for stepped up U.N. sanctions from Washingon and its allies.