world

Schwarzenegger considers freeing Crips founder

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Nov. 28,2005 10:29 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he would consider granting clemency to convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang founder who became an anti-gang activist while in prison and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The governor said he would meet Dec. 8 in a private hearing with Williams' lawyers, Los Angeles County prosecutors and others involved.

Sunni Arabs arrested in plot to kill Saddam Hussein's judge

By Alyson Brodsy and Hamza Hendawi · Monday, Nov. 28,2005 10:28 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The courtroom will be the same but uncertainty surrounds nearly everything else as the trial of Saddam Hussein resumes Monday after a five-week recess. Will the court grant a defense request for a three-month postponement? Will witnesses testify behind screens to shield their identities? Will Saddam's foreign lawyers, including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, be allowed to attend the trial?

Earthquake in Iran destroys villages, kills 10

By Alyson Brodsy and Nasser Karimi · Monday, Nov. 28,2005 10:27 a.m.

TEHRAN, Iran -- An earthquake with a magnitude of at least 5.9 shook a sparsely populated area of southern Iran on Sunday, flattening seven villages, killing 10 people and injuring 70, officials and state-run television said. The temblor was felt as far away as Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Students risk arrest in military base protest

By Brandon Morley and Brandon S Morley · Monday, Nov. 21,2005 11:56 a.m.

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Several IU students traveled to the U.S. Army base at Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., this past weekend to participate in the symbolic protest against a military-run school, formally known as the School of Americas. The base, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, houses a controversial training facility that has been linked to human rights abuses in Latin America. The weekend's protest included a mock funeral procession, live music and speeches.

Defense secretary says he was not Woodward's source

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Nov. 21,2005 11:36 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld added his name Nov. 21 to the list of senior Bush administration officials who say they were not the source who told Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that administration critic Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

Thanks, little giving in Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and David A. Nosko · Monday, Nov. 21,2005 11:35 a.m.

While Americans celebrate Thanksgiving this week by gnawing on turkey legs before eating pumpkin pie, millions of Iraqis continue to suffer from the murderous oppression of, well, just about everybody from our global neighborhood and their militant-idolizing brother.

8 suspected terrorists killed after U.S. raid

By Alyson Brodsy and Robert H. Reid · Monday, Nov. 21,2005 11:35 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. forces sealed off a house in the northern city of Mosul where eight suspected al-Qaida members died in a gunfight -- some by their own hand to avoid capture. A U.S. official said Sunday that efforts were under way to determine if terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was among the dead.

Pentagon denies chemical weapons used on civilians

By Alyson Brodsy and Robert Burns · Friday, Nov. 18,2005 10:50 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Pentagon officials say white phosphorous was used as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November, but deny an Italian television news report that it was used against civilians. Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that while white phosphorous is most frequently used to mark targets or obscure a position, it was used at times in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants.

House Democrat calls for withdrawal from Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and Liz Sidoti · Friday, Nov. 18,2005 10:49 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- An influential House Democrat who voted for the Iraq war called Thursday for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, another sign of growing unease in Congress about the conflict. "It is time for a change in direction," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., one of Congress' most hawkish Democrats. "Our military is suffering, the future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf region."

Tentative deal on Patriot Act would limit provisions

By Abdullah AlShihri and Laurie Kellman · Thursday, Nov. 17,2005 2:13 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- House and Senate negotiators have struck a tentative deal on the expiring Patriot Act that would curb the FBI's investigative power and require the Justice Department to more fully report its secret requests for information about ordinary people.

Returning to New Orleans

By Abdullah AlShihri and Rami Chami · Thursday, Nov. 17,2005 2:13 p.m.

The last time I left New Orleans I was being evacuated on the back of a military truck that was navigating through the city's flooded streets against a backdrop of war-like destruction. Two months after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, I returned to New Orleans for a brief visit. I was both impressed and disheartened by what I saw in terms of the city's recovery.

Stuck in the Middle

By Mallory Simon · Thursday, Nov. 17,2005 2:12 p.m.

Linda Kaczynski felt a nagging pain in her gut when she read pieces of the Unabomber's Manifesto. As she read the words explaining the perils and evils of technology from a man who had sent shrapnel--covered bombs to unsuspecting victims, it seemed all too familiar. She sat motionless, and then asked her husband to sit down on the couch. "Don't get angry at me, but is there any possibility this could be your brother Ted?" Linda said, clutching a copy of The Washington Post, which had published the Manifesto.

Senate GOP rejects call for Iraq war pullout plan

By Alyson Brodsy and Liz Sidoti · Wednesday, Nov. 16,2005 6:52 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The GOP-controlled Senate rejected a Democratic call Tuesday for a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq but urged President Bush to outline his plan for "the successful completion of the mission" in a bill reflecting a growing bipartisan unease with his Iraq policies.

173 detainees found tortured in Bagdad

By Alyson Brodsy and Bassem Mroue · Wednesday, Nov. 16,2005 6:50 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's prime minister said Tuesday that 173 Iraqi detainees -- malnourished and showing signs of torture -- were found at an Interior Ministry basement lockup seized by U.S. forces in Baghdad. The discovery appeared to validate Sunni complaints of abuse by the Shiite-controlled ministry.

Alito plays down abortion statements

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Wednesday, Nov. 16,2005 6:49 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Samuel Alito who argued against abortion rights in 1985 was "an advocate seeking a job" with the conservative Reagan administration, the Alito who is now a Supreme Court nominee told Democrats Tuesday.

Vaccination teams in Pakistan warn of shortage of funds

By Alyson Brodsy and Sadaqat Jan · Tuesday, Nov. 15,2005 12:32 a.m.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan -- A tear rolled down the cheek of 5-year-old Syed Junaid Shah Monday as doctors from UNICEF and the Pakistani Health Ministry vaccinated him against tetanus and measles. The boy is one of the 1.2 million children in Pakistan's quake zone that doctors hope to immunize in the next two to three weeks, but organizers say they have only received about half the $8 million needed for the program. Without the money, "we will not be able to complete the whole activity, which means large numbers of vulnerable children will remain unprotected," UNICEF project manager Edward Hoekstra told The Associated Press.

Alito boasts anti-abortion work in White House

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Tuesday, Nov. 15,2005 12:30 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito boasted about his work arguing that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion" while trying to become a deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration, according to documents released Monday. Alito, a federal appellate judge nominated by President Bush to the nation's highest court, was a young lawyer working for the solicitor general's office in 1985 when he applied for the position under Attorney General Edwin Meese.

Strong earthquake shakes Japan, tsunami warning issued

By Hiroko Tabuchi · Monday, Nov. 14,2005 11:12 p.m.

TOKYO -- A strong earthquake shook northern Japan early Tuesday, triggering a small tsunami that struck coastal areas about 200 miles from the epicenter. There were no immediate reports of damage. The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2, hit at 6:39 a.m. (4:39 p.m. EST Monday) and was centered off the east coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Japan's Meteorological Agency measured the magnitude at 6.9, it said. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.

Bush slams Iraq War critics on trip to Asia

By Alyson Brodsy and Terence Hunt · Monday, Nov. 14,2005 11:12 p.m.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE -- President Bush hurled new criticism at Iraq war critics Monday as he headed for Asia, accusing some Democrats of "sending mixed signals to our troops and the enemy."

Rice: Democracy in Middle East will be slow, difficult

By Alyson Brodsy and Anne Gearan · Monday, Nov. 14,2005 12:05 a.m.

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday the Bush administration is under no illusion that democratic change in the Middle East will be neither swift nor easy. "We are not naive about the pace or the difficulty of democratic change," Rice said in remarks prepared for delivery during a memorial forum honoring slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Even so, she said, "We know that the longing for democratic change is deep and urgently felt."