News

AP - Cindy McCain did not hesitate as she stepped toward the microphone, taking her place in the history of political wives who stood by their men in the face of rumored or alleged marital infidelity.

AP - Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins early Friday, making the singer and husband Marc Anthony the parents of a boy and a girl after one of pop music’s most closely watched pregnancies.

AP - Hillary Rodham Clinton accused presidential rival Barack Obama of political plagiarism Thursday night, but drew boos from a Democratic debate audience when she ridiculed him as the candidate of “change you can Xerox.”

AP - Angry Serbs broke into the U.S. Embassy and set fire to an office Thursday night as rioters rampaged through Belgrade’s streets, putting an exclamation point of violence to a day of mass protest against Western support for an independent Kosovo.

Reuters - Working on foot in cold conditions,
search teams scoured the rugged Venezuelan Andes on Friday for
a missing passenger plane thought to have crashed with 46
passengers on board in the high mountain region.

Reuters - U.S. Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton tried to raise doubts about surging
rival Barack Obama on Thursday but said in an emotional debate
finale that “whatever happens, we’re going to be fine.”

Reuters - Serb rioters enraged by Kosovo’s
secession stormed the U.S. embassy in Belgrade and set it on
fire, leaving one person dead and drawing swift condemnation
from Washington and the U.N. Security Council.

Reuters - Powerful Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr is widely expected to extend a ceasefire by his Mehdi
Army militia on Friday, a decision Washington says is important
to maintain security gains.

Reuters - U.S. President George W.
Bush said on Thursday he would not compromise with the
Democratic-led Congress on his demand that phone companies that
took part in his warrantless domestic spying program be
shielded from lawsuits.

Reuters - The United States
expects continuity from Australia’s new government and a
renewed commitment to their security alliance despite
Canberra’s plans for a partial withdrawal from Iraq, U.S.
officials said.

Reuters - U.S. Defense
Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday he hopes to pull more
troops out of Iraq after a brief pause in withdrawals in July
or August meant to assess the impact of lower troop levels on
security in the war zone.

AP - A bomb hidden under a cart exploded in downtown Baghdad on Friday, killing two civilians, while two policemen died when a booby-trapped car exploded north of the capital, police said.

Reuters - Turkey’s military said on Friday it had
launched a cross-border land offensive backed by fighter jets
into northern Iraq on Thursday evening to hunt down Kurdish PKK
guerrillas based there.

AFP - Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq Thursday night to hunt down separatist Kurdish rebels based across the border, the Turkish army said in a statement Friday.

AP - A 28-mile “virtual fence” that will use radars and surveillance cameras to try to catch people entering the country illegally has gotten final government approval.

AP - The Cleveland Cavaliers gave LeBron James the help he wants — maybe enough to compete for the ring he craves. The Cavaliers took part in the biggest trade of deadline day, landing center Ben Wallace and swingman Wally Szczerbiak on Thursday in a three-team deal with Chicago and Seattle.

AP - William Miller dreamed of traveling to Italy with his wife and fixing up their modest house with the money he saved while working for 36 years for Chevron Corp.

AP - Rescue crews were sent Friday to find a commercial airliner carrying 46 people that disappeared in southwestern Venezuela. Officials feared the worst after residents reported hearing a crash in the mountains.

AFP - Serb rioters enraged by Western support for Kosovo’s independence set ablaze the US embassy in Belgrade, leaving one dead in violence angrily condemned by Washington and the United Nations.