world

Chaos of war dying down in Baghdad

By Alyson Brodsy and Niko Price · Tuesday, April 22,2003 12:12 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The retired U.S. general appointed as Iraq's postwar administrator arrived in Baghdad on Monday, while two more top members of Saddam Hussein's regime were reported captured.

US soldiers banned from patrols

By Alyson Brodsy and Jim Gomez · Tuesday, April 22,2003 12:10 a.m.

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine government Monday prohibited U.S. troops from joining soldiers on combat patrols during counterterrorism exercises planned for later this year on Jolo, a southern island where Muslim militants are active. The ban marks a change from last year, when American soldiers joined Filipino army units on combat patrols during similar exercises on nearby Basilan island.

SARS death toll on the rise

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, April 21,2003 1:40 a.m.

BEIJING -- Jolted by a jump in SARS deaths and a tenfold increase in infections in Beijing alone, China's Communist Party stripped the health minister and the capital's mayor of power Sunday.

Military presence lightened in Baghdad

By Alyson Brodsy and Calvin Woodward · Monday, April 21,2003 1:40 a.m.

The military presence in Baghdad lightened Sunday when Marines left the Army in control of the stabilizing capital.

Saddam hid in private house

By Alyson Brodsy and Ellen Knickmeyer · Monday, April 21,2003 12:09 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein's entourage hid out in the home of a former family bodyguard for much of the U.S.-led air war, fleeing only when a bunker-busting bomb meant for the Iraqi leader struck a block away, residents told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Pope delivers message to Iraq

By Alyson Brodsy and Frances D'Emilio · Monday, April 21,2003 12:08 a.m.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II said in his Easter Sunday message that the Iraqi people should determine their future, adding his moral authority to the international debate on the aftermath of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

European Union changes could affect US alliances

By Christina Galoozis · Friday, April 18,2003 1:35 a.m.

The European Union decided Wednesday to induct 10 new Eastern European countries in May 2004, which will establish a total of 25 countries in the EU. Since most of Eastern Europe supported the U.S.-led war in Iraq which created a distinct division between Western and Eastern Europe, some speculate on the changes in U.S. alliances with Europe.

Hussein relative captured

By David Espo · Friday, April 18,2003 1:01 a.m.

American commandos captured a half brother of Saddam Hussein on Thursday, the latest success in a campaign to round up insiders from the former regime. U.S. troops thwarted a Baghdad bank robbery over the protests of Iraqis eager to share in the loot.

Bush urges lift of UN sanctions

By Alyson Brodsy and David Espo · Thursday, April 17,2003 1:43 a.m.

The top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq briefed President Bush on the war from inside one of Saddam Hussein's ornate palaces Wednesday, underscoring the death of the old regime. At home, the administration reduced the terrorist threat a notch, from orange to yellow.

US, North Korea discuss weapons

By Alyson Brodsy and Deb Riechmann · Thursday, April 17,2003 12:42 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The United States will talk with North Korea as early as next week in a meeting hosted by China, thawing chilly relations between Washington and Pyongyang over the communist nation's nuclear weapons program.

Future of Abbas undecided

By Alyson Brodsy and Matt Kelley · Thursday, April 17,2003 12:41 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- American officials weighed options Wednesday for handling terrorist mastermind Abul Abbas as Italy prepared to seek his extradition and the Palestinian Authority demanded his release.

US forces raid home of Iraqi biological lab chief

By Alyson Brodsy and David Crary · Thursday, April 17,2003 12:39 a.m.

U.S. special forces Wednesday raided the Baghdad home of a microbiologist nicknamed "Dr. Germ" who ran Iraq's secret biological laboratory.

Assassin sentenced to 18 years

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, April 16,2003 1:38 a.m.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The killer of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison -- a punishment that elicited courtroom boos, crying and derision from Fortuyn supporters who said it was not nearly severe enough. Volkert van der Graaf, 33, confessed to shooting Fortuyn outside a radio station May 6, just nine days before elections in which Fortuyn was contending for prime minister, to prevent him from gaining power and carrying out his anti-immigration agenda. The crime shattered the country's tradition of peaceful democracy, and Fortuyn's supporters said Van der Graaf should be sentenced to life in prison. The Netherlands abolished the death penalty in 1870.

Soldiers' Vigil

By Laura Lacci · Wednesday, April 16,2003 1:26 a.m.

Cars lined the sidewalks of North Jordan Avenue, candles lit the night sky and red, white and blue ribbons adorned students' shirts as a large group gathered Tuesday night in a vigil on the lawn of Phi Mu sorority.

Professors discuss historic parallels to fall of Baghdad

By Christina Galoozis · Wednesday, April 16,2003 1:26 a.m.

Many U.S. media TV stations showed live images of Iraqis toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on the morning of April 9. These images sparked a significant development in the war with Iraq by producing a message that coalition forces had taken Baghdad into their control.

Iraqis begin planning for post-war government -- under US eyes

By Alyson Brodsy and David Espo · Wednesday, April 16,2003 1:26 a.m.

Iraqis met under American auspices to shape a new government Tuesday and said "the rule of law must be paramount" following Saddam Hussein's fall. In a war dividend, U.S. officials said they had taken Palestinian terrorist Abul Abbas into custody in Baghdad.

Chirac, Bush speak by phone for first time in over two months

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, April 16,2003 12:24 a.m.

PARIS -- French President Jacques Chirac, seeking to repair ties frayed by the Iraq war, spoke with President Bush for the first time in more than two months Tuesday and appeared to temper earlier demands that the United Nations be at the center of Iraq's reconstruction.

US says 'major fighting' over

By Alyson Brodsy and David Espo · Tuesday, April 15,2003 1:27 a.m.

Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit fell Monday with unexpectedly light resistance, the last Iraqi city to succumb to overpowering U.S.-led ground and air forces. A senior Pentagon general said "major combat engagements" probably are over in the 26-day-old war.

Navy carriers to leave Gulf

By Robert Burns · Tuesday, April 15,2003 12:42 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and the ships in their battle groups will leave the Persian Gulf this week and return to their home ports, a U.S. defense official said Monday.

US moves into Tikrit

By Alyson Brodsy and Borzou Daragahi · Monday, April 14,2003 1:39 a.m.

TIKRIT, Iraq -- U.S. Marine patrols made rapid incursions into Saddam Hussein's hometown Sunday and clashed with its scattered defenders, using airstrikes and artillery in a bid to overwhelm any plans for a furious last stand at the Iraqi leader's power base. U.S. forces suspected about 2,500 die-hards of the Republican Guard and the paramilitary Fedayeen -- and possibly officials from Saddam's regime -- were holed up in Tikrit, a reporter for Canada's National Post covering the Marines told CNN. Artillery explosions flashed on the horizon, and jets roared overhead. With Marines massed on the city's outskirts, U.S. units moved in and out of the city