News

AP - Officials found traces of radiation on two British Airways jets, and the airline appealed Wednesday to tens of thousands of passengers who flew to Moscow or other cities to come forward — the latest twist in the inquiry into the poisoning death of a former Russian spy.

AP - Africa, a continent usually synonymous with hunger, is falling prey to obesity. It’s a trend driven by new lifestyles and old beliefs that big is beautiful. Ask Nodo Njobo, a plump hairdressing assistant. She is coy about her weight, but like many African women, proud of her “big bum.” She says she’d like to be slimmer, but worries how her friends would react.

AP - Ford’s hourly work force is shrinking to half its current size, following the announcement Wednesday that 38,000 hourly workers have agreed to accept early retirement or buyout packages this year.

AP - A preacher was arrested at the Mexican border and accused of deliberately crashing his pickup truck and killing an 85-year-old farmer in a scheme to get his hands on the man’s multimillion-dollar trust fund.

AP - The ailing Fidel Castro was not well enough to attend the kickoff Tuesday of his 80th birthday celebrations, attended by hundreds of admirers who traveled here to fete him.

AP - To evade authorities chasing him, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski kept shoes with smaller soles attached to the bottom in his reclusive Montana cabin, according to evidence released 10 years after his capture.

Reuters - North Korea wants sanctions dropped and
the United States to free its overseas bank accounts as
preconditions for dismantling its nuclear program, Yonhap news
agency said on Wednesday, terms likely to become a sticking
point in negotiations.

AP - The untreated urban sewage and effluents that flow into the Great Lakes each year are threatening a critical ecosystem that supplies water to millions of people, according to a study by a Canadian environmental group.

AP - A federal judge struck down President Bush’s authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

AP - Under intense pressure to change course, President Bush on Tuesday rejected suggestions Iraq has fallen into civil war and vowed not to pull U.S. troops out “until the mission is complete.”

AP - Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry underwent surgery for undisclosed reasons and spent the night in a North Carolina hospital, a pageant official confirmed Tuesday.

AP - U.S. soldiers fought with suspected insurgents using a building as a safe house in Ramadi on Tuesday, killing one Iraqi man and five females, ranging in age from an infant to teenagers, the U.S. military said.