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Taliban threaten to kill kidnapped Pakistani officials
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The Pakistani Taliban have taken dozens of local officials hostage, including police officers, paramilitary fighters and even state bank officials, and threatened yesterday to begin executing them unless the government released four of their comrades captured last week.
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Huge crane collapses at Houston refinery, killing four workers
HOUSTON – One of the nation's largest mobile cranes collapsed at a Houston oil refinery yesterday, killing four workers and injuring seven others in the latest of several fatal accidents that have raised concerns about the safety of construction cranes.
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Iran open to discussing U.S. diplomatic presence
ISTANBUL, Turkey – Iran's foreign minister said yesterday that his country was open to discussing the establishment by the Bush administration of the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Tehran since relations were severed nearly three decades ago.
- Most e-mailed U-T stories
- Evidence raising doubt about crew in bay fuel spill
SAN FRANCISCO – Lawyers for the pilot of the ship that struck the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge said there is new evidence raising doubts about the Chinese crew's truthfulness after the incident, and said the crew should be detained as witnesses for several more months.
- Residents allowed back home; few wildfires are still burning
SAN FRANCISCO – Fire crews yesterday had extinguished all but 38 of the more than 2,000 blazes ignited over the past month, allowing most mandatory evacuations to be lifted so residents could return home for the weekend.
- Photo: Dirty work
- REGION UPDATE
Farmers won't face water cuts over fish
FRESNO – A federal judge ruled yesterday that California's water systems threaten to push native, wild salmon into extinction but stopped short of ordering water cutbacks that farmers said would have cost them millions in lost crops.
- New Hampshire to accept Chávez oil
CONCORD, N.H. – Two years ago, New Hampshire refused to accept heating oil from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the pro-Castro U.S. critic who once called President Bush “the devil.” But with fuel prices rising, well, free oil is free oil.
- Texas OKs Bible classes for public high schools
AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas State Board of Education gave final approval yesterday to establishing Bible classes in public high schools, rejecting calls to draw specific teaching guidelines and warnings that it could lead to constitutional problems in the classroom.
- Fla. police kill fleeing, firing suspect after officer slain
FORT MYERS, Fla. – A former missionary turned police officer was shot and killed along with a suspect after police were called to a disturbance outside a downtown nightclub early yesterday.
- Felons seek pardons at record pace
WASHINGTON – Felons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office, a time when many other presidents have granted a flurry of clemency requests.
- NATION UPDATE
Gray wolves return to endangered list
BILLINGS, Mont. – A federal judge restored endangered-species protections for gray wolves in the northern Rockies late yesterday, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.
- Rome begins its census of Gypsies
ROME – City officials and Italian Red Cross workers began a census of Rome's Gypsy population but said yesterday that they will not participate in a national push to fingerprint all Gypsies unless they encounter someone suspected of a crime.
- U.S. role in cocaine seizure described
MEXICO CITY – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday that U.S. intelligence led Mexican forces to a small submarine captured this week packed with 5.8 tons of cocaine.
- Nelson Mandela celebrates 90th birthday
QUNU, South Africa – Nelson Mandela sat beaming in a yellow armchair, his legs propped up on a large stool and covered with a pale-yellow blanket. Ten grandchildren crowd-ed around to serenade him with “Happy Birthday” and then smothered him with hugs and kisses.
- Argentina abandons bid to raise farm export tax
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – President Cristina Fernández canceled a farm export tax increase yesterday following months of devastating protests and a stunning rejection by Argentina's Senate.
- WORLD UPDATE
Pope voices support for abuse victims
SYDNEY, Australia – Pope Benedict XVI today said he was “deeply sorry” for the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy in Australia, describing the offenses as evil and a grave betrayal of trust.
- Next U.S. target: Arms smuggling via Iranian border
CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – With al-Qaeda in Iraq falling away, U.S. forces in Iraq are turning their attention to another front: the Iranian border. They aim to crack down on weapon smuggling from Iran by tightening the frontier with Iraq's neighbor to the east, a U.S. commander said yesterday.
- Tensions in Anbar region stalling complete transfer of security to Iraqi forces
BAGHDAD – Iraq's government hopes to bring the entire country under its security control by year's end. But one critical area stands in the way: the western province of Anbar, where the Sunni insurgency was born and later received its first blows from a civil uprising.
- Daily developments
Aviation Boatswain Mate Third Class Petty officer Daniel R. Verbeke, 25, of Exton, Penn., died Monday in Paoli, Penn. of complications from injuries suffered in a flight deck accident in December 2005 on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
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