Report calls for new ocean study effort\nWASHINGTON -- Undiscovered foods, useful chemicals and drugs and potential sources of energy may lie in wait in the least explored portion of Earth -- the oceans.\nA new effort to seek out those resources was recommended Tuesday in a report by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.\n"A new program of ocean exploration is necessary ... improved knowledge of our oceans represents more than an academic interest," said John Orcutt, deputy director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.\nOrcutt, chairman of the committee that prepared the report, said vast portions of the oceans have not been examined for geochemical and biological resources, particularly in the southern hemisphere.
Appeals court to consider settlement\nWASHINGTON -- The antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. returned Tuesday to the U.S. appeals court where the world's largest software company already has won significant victories since the government began investigating its business practices nearly a decade ago.\nSix appellate judges, who agreed in June 2001 that Microsoft had illegally abused its monopoly over Windows software, are considering whether the Bush administration and 19 states negotiated adequate antitrust sanctions in a court-approved settlement.\nThe court aggressively questioned key provisions of the settlement, but it stopped short of suggesting it might instruct a lower court to throw out the agreement and seek tougher sanctions against the software company.
4 dead, 3 wounded in Arizona shootings\nCASA GRANDE, Ariz. -- Four people were found shot to death along a highway Tuesday morning and three others were wounded in a possible dispute involving immigrant smuggling, officials said.\nDepartment of Public Safety spokesman Frank Valenzuela said highway patrol officers first received calls about a multiple-vehicle accident along Interstate 10 outside Casa Grande, a town southeast of Phoenix, and later received calls about a shooting.\nWhen officers arrived, they found four people shot to death. Valenzuela didn't have details on where the wounded people were found.
Congress sends Bush $87.5 billion package\nWASHINGTON -- President Bush will soon sign the $87.5 billion package he requested for Iraq and Afghanistan, but his Democratic critics used its final approval by Congress to highlight what they say are his failed policies in Iraq.\nThe Senate, on a voice vote Monday, gave its assent to the legislation three days after the House blessed it by 298-121. It closely tracks the outlines of an $87 billion plan Bush requested Sept. 7 in a nationally broadcast speech.\nMcClellan said the money, coupled with assistance from international donors, will help make Iraq more secure and help the transition to self-government for Iraqis. The money also will help Afghanistan become a peaceful, democratic and stable nation, he said.
