Eight dead in flooding from Eastern storms\nBALTIMORE -- Searchers on Thursday found the body of a third construction worker swept away as storms flooded roads and overflowed creeks across Appalachia and the Eastern Seaboard.\nAt least eight people have died and emergency crews from Tennessee to Pennsylvania have rescued dozens of drivers from vehicles stalled in high water as the storms moved northeastward. In West Virginia, 350 children woke up Thursday morning still at school because roads to their homes were blocked by high water overnight.\nThe storms were tapering off Thursday after two days of rain, but flooding was still a problem as the rainwater drained into already swollen creeks and rivers.
Seven arrested in free trade protest march\nMIAMI -- Police in riot gear used batons, plastic shields, concussion grenades and stun guns in clashes Thursday with hundreds of demonstrators protesting talks aimed at creating a hemisphere-wide free-trade zone.\nAt least seven demonstrators were arrested. Police said one officer suffered minor injuries. Injured protesters were also seen, but no immediate details were available.\nThe clashes delayed for more than an hour a march organized by the nation's unions, which are also opposed to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. About 10,000 marchers were taking part, and organizers promised it would be peaceful.\nDuring the clashes, at least 1,000 protesters -- many wearing bandanas across the bottom half of their faces, surgical masks and blue batting helmets -- approached lines of police blocking downtown streets. Others carried gas masks and tried to pull down security fences with large hooks.
Producer Phil Spector charged with murder\nALHAMBRA, Calif. -- Record producer Phil Spector, the 1960s recording-studio wizard who created pop music's Wall of Sound, was charged Thursday with murder in the shooting death of a woman at his home last February.\nSpector, 63, was expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in the slaying of 40-year-old Lana Clarkson, a B-movie actress and model found dead in the foyer of his Alhambra mansion.\nHe has been free on $1 million bail since his arrest for investigation of murder shortly after the shooting Feb. 3. Authorities have not given a motive or commented on other details of the investigation.
Defense rests its case in John Allen Muhammad's murder trial\nVIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The defense rested its case Thursday in the penalty phase of John Allen Muhammad's trial after trying to show the jury a softer side of the man convicted of murder in the Washington-area sniper spree.\nThe jury will now hear closing statements before beginning deliberations on whether Muhammad deserves the death penalty or life in prison without parole.\nThe same jury on Monday convicted the 42-year-old Army veteran for his role in the sniper spree that left 10 people dead and three wounded last year.
