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Firefighters battling a stubborn, two-week-old wildfire that scorched more than 116 square miles of wilderness along the Los Angeles-Ventura County line were counting on help from shifting winds Monday. The largest of three Southern California blazes doubled in size when it was fanned by gusty winds over the weekend. But a cool, moist ocean breeze Sunday night slowed the fire and put communities out of immediate danger. Authorities had advised precautionary evacuations over the weekend. The most recent forecast called for northwest winds of 15 mph to 20 mph with a shift to cooler onshore breezes. "If the wind shifts as predicted ... it could cool things a bit," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Joe Pasinato. The fire has burned 74,052 acres since Labor Day and was 15 percent contained. Meanwhile, two desert wildfires forced the temporary evacuation of about 2,500 residents. One fire was contained, the other 90 percent contained. Two homes were destroyed in one of the desert fires. While no one was injured and no homes were lost in the largest fire, the blaze that has remained largely in the Los Padres National Forest crept within 12 miles of the artists' enclave of Ojai, about 75 miles northwest of Los Angeles. The blaze was about seven miles north of Fillmore and 10 miles northeast of Santa Paula. On Monday, firefighters moved equipment and personnel to the fire's western boundary and worked to set up a helicopter base to attack the blaze from the air. Crews also planned to drive up a hillside and hike a few miles inward, where they would use hand tools to cut fire lines and prevent the blaze from moving into populated areas. More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze, which was ignited by someone burning debris. Officials had advised the evacuation of about 350 homes in Upper Ojai, Matilija Canyon and Wheeler Gorge areas as a precaution, said Sgt. Tim Hagel of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. Ninety students cleared out of an Ojai Valley boarding school near the fire. "It was a voluntary evacuation, but they were urged to leave," said Peter Cavalho, a supervisor of maintenance at Ojai Valley Schools Upper Campus. Meanwhile, in Montana, a weekend storm dumped as much as 2 inches of rain on two wildfires, dramatically slowing their growth. Fire managers said they expect to wrap up most firefighting efforts Tuesday. One fire, 20 miles southeast of Livingston, has burned about 29,000 acres, or 45 square miles. It blew up on Wednesday, destroying two cabins plus a shop. It was 50 percent contained. The other fire, 15 miles south of Big Timber, has burned 208,096 acres and 26 homes since it began with a lightning strike Aug. 22. It was considered 85 percent contained. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...s&printer=1

Still searching for her own distinctive sign-off, Katie Couric finished her second week at the top of the network news pecking order, giving CBS its first week-to-week ratings victory in eight years. For the week ended September 15, the CBS Evening News averaged 7.9 million viewers per night, up nearly 16 percent from a year ago but 2.3 million fewer than Couric's first week in the anchor chair, Nielsen Media Research reported on Monday. Couric's margin of victory last week narrowed, too. CBS edged the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams by a mere 70,000 viewers last week and ABC World News Tonight with Charles Gibson by 370,000. The week before, CBS beat NBC and ABC by more than 3 million viewers each. The last time CBS topped NBC and ABC for two weeks straight in the network news derby was in July 1998. CBS also led the way in ratings for advertisers' target news audience -- adults aged 25 to 54 -- and was the only network newscast to post year-to-year gains in that group and in total viewers. CBS News President Sean McManus acknowledged that much of Couric's initial ratings success was due to the tremendous hype surrounding her debut as the first woman named solo anchor of a major U.S. network newscast. "I'm discounting the first week entirely," he told Reuters last week. "It was thrilling, but it was an aberration." McManus said he was very pleased with Couric's performance so far. "A 16 percent jump in ratings in television is remarkable," he said, adding that her arrival appears to have at least put CBS in a "horse race" after it trailed well behind NBC and ABC for years. He said he hoped that when the dust settles, probably early next year, CBS would emerge as the No. 2 newscast in a much tighter pack. "The margin of victory between one and three is probably going to be so small that it's not going to have any financial effect. It's really going to be a matter of pride," he said. Couric, who gained celebrity stature during 15 years as co-host of NBC's top-rated morning show, "Today," took over as anchor and managing editor of the CBS newscast on September 5 under a deal that reportedly pays her $15 million a year. As part of an unprecedented marketing blitz, CBS has sought to promote Couric as a more "accessible" broadcast journalist who also possesses the experience and gravitas to carry a network newscast. But on her first night at CBS, Couric confided that she was still groping for her own distinguishing sign-off, the kind of signature phrase that concluded the newscasts of her big-league predecessors, and she invited viewers to send in suggestions. After two weeks, Couric was still bidding her audience good night with variations of "thanks so much for watching." http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060918/tv_nm/...c&printer=1

Al-Qaida in Iraq warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that its war against Christianity and the West will go on until Islam takes over the world, and Iran's supreme leader called for more protests over the pontiff's remarks on Islam. Protests broke out in South Asia and Indonesia, with angry Muslims saying Benedict's statement of regret a day earlier did not go far enough. In southern Iraq, demonstrators carrying black flags burned an effigy of the pope. Islamic leaders around the world issued more condemnations of the pope's comments, but some moderates in the Middle East appeared to be trying to put a damper on the outrage, fearing it could spiral into attacks on Christians in the region. On Sunday, Benedict said he was "deeply sorry" over any hurt caused by his comments made in a speech last week, in which he quoted a medieval text characterizing some of the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman" and calling Islam a religion spread by the sword. Benedict said the remarks came from a text that didn't reflect his own opinion, but he did not retract what he said or say he was sorry he uttered what proved to be explosive words. The Vatican on Monday sought to defuse the anger, ordering papal representatives around the world to meet with leaders of Muslim countries to explain the pope's point of view and full context of his speech. Roman Catholic leaders stepped forward to defend the pontiff. At an Italian bishops' conference, Cardinal Camillo Ruini underlined the bishops' "total closeness and solidarity to the pope" and said they deplored interpretations of the pope's comments "which attribute to the Holy Father ... errors that he has not committed and aim at attacking his person and his ministry." Few in the Islamic world were satisfied by Benedict's statement of regret. "The pope's words have caused a deep wound in the hearts of Muslims that won't heal for a long time, and then only after a clear apology to Muslims," Egypt's religious affairs minister, Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq, wrote in a column in the government daily Al-Ahram on Monday. An influential Egyptian cleric, Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, called for protests after weekly prayers on Friday, but maintained they should be peaceful. Extremists said the pope's comments proved that the West was in a war against Islam. Al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross," saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the 'jizya' tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword." Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay the "jizya" tax, though those who convert are exempt. The tax, sometimes called a head tax, has not been imposed in Muslim nations in about 100 years, though Islamic militant groups have tried to force non-Muslims to pay it on a local level in some countries. "You infidels and despots, we will continue our jihad (holy war) and never stop until God avails us to chop your necks and raise the fluttering banner of monotheism, when God's rule is established governing all people and nations," said the statement by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups in Iraq. Al-Qaida in Iraq said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the 'jizya' tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword." Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay the 'jizya' tax, though they were exempt if they converted to Islam.or early 20th century, though Islamic militant groups have tried to force non-Muslims to pay it on a local level in some countries. Another Iraqi extremist group, Ansar al-Sunna, challenged "sleeping Muslims" to prove their manhood by doing something other than "issuing statements or holding demonstrations." "If the stupid pig is prancing with his blasphemies in his house," the group said in a Web statement, referring to the pope, "then let him wait for the day coming soon when the armies of the religion of right knock on the walls of Rome." In Iran, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used the comments to call for protests against the United States. He argued that while the pope may have been deceived into making his remarks, the words give the West an "excuse for suppressing Muslims" by depicting them as terrorists. "Those who benefit from the pope's comments and drive their own arrogant policies should be targeted with attacks and protests," he said, referring to the United States. The anger recalled the outrage earlier this year over cartoons depicting the prophet published by a Danish paper. The caricatures, which Muslims saw as insulting Muhammad, set off large, violent protests across the Islamic world. So far, protests over the pope's comments have been smaller. However, there has been some violence: Attackers hurled firebombs at seven churches in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the weekend, and a nun was shot to death in Somalia. Some 200 Khamenei loyalists in the Syrian capital, Damascus, held a protest Monday at an Islamic shrine, dismissing the pope's apology. "The pope's sorrow was equivocal," read one banner. Dozens protested outside the Vatican Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, and schools and shops in the Indian-controlled section of Kashmir shut their doors in protest. "His comments really hurt Muslims all over the world," Umar Nawawi of the radical Islamic Defenders' Front said in Jakarta. "We should remind him not to say such things which can only fuel a holy war." Islamic countries also asked the U.N. Human Rights Council to examine the question of religious tolerance. Malaysia's foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, said Benedict's apology was "inadequate to calm the anger." In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood said the anger should not be allowed to hurt ties with the Middle East's Christian minorities. But worries among Christians in the region are high. Guards have been posted around some churches, and the head of Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, disassociated himself from Benedict's statements. The Dominican mission in Cairo also criticized Benedict's words, saying he chose a text for his speech that "revived the polemics of the past." "These comments, seen by many Muslims as hurtful, risk encouraging extremists on all sides," it said in a statement, "and put in danger all the advances in dialogue made in recent decades." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...e&printer=1

An oxygen generator on the international space station overheated and spilled a toxic irritant Monday, forcing the three-man crew to don masks and gloves in the first emergency ever declared aboard the 8-year-old orbiting outpost. NASA said the crew members' lives were never in any danger. They cleaned up the spill with towels. A charcoal filter scrubbed the irritant out of the air. And within a couple of hours, life aboard the station 220 miles above Earth was nearly back to normal. But it was the biggest scare this smooth-running space station has had. Although it paled in comparison to two fires and a collision on two previous Russian space stations and the nearly fatal explosion on Apollo 13, the incident served as a reminder of how life-and-death emergencies can come out of nowhere. It is why an emergency space capsule is always parked at the outpost in case of a sudden order to abandon ship. NASA never came close to ordering the crew to leave the station, space station program manager Mike Suffredini said. But astronauts did reveal they were worried. About three hours after the emergency, station commander Pavel Vinogradov tried to explain what happened to Moscow Mission Control, saying "different thoughts came to my mind." Russian flight controllers interrupted, telling him: "We were kind of nervous here, too." NASA and the Russian space agency were investigating what caused the problem. "We don't exactly know the nature of the spill ... but the crew is doing well," Suffredini. "It's not a life-threatening material." The astronauts sounded an alarm after the equipment began smoking and turned off the ventilation system to avoid spreading any fumes from leaking drops of potassium hydroxide, which is used to power batteries. Monitors showed that the cabin air was safe. "It was just an irritant issue," NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said. "The crew did exactly the right things they were trained to do." It was the type of problem that is always in the back of crew members' minds, said former astronaut Jerry Linenger, who was aboard the Russian space station Mir during a 1997 fire and frequent antifreeze leaks that gave that old station a gas-station-like smell. "Fumes is one of those low-level risks that sort of wears on you," Linenger said. "You realize you are in a closed ecosystem and you're breathing it. It's kind of in the back of your mind and it's hard to get out of the back of your mind. ... You're thinking this is not good." The problem originated in a Russian oxygen generating machine, called an Elektron, that had been shut off for nine days while the space shuttle Atlantis was docked to the station. At about 4 a.m. EDT Monday, Russian flight controllers asked that the device be turned back on. It shut itself down and would not restart. Three hours later, Moscow ordered Vinogradov to try again. A part of the machine that holds liquids overheated. It melted through a rubber seal, produced puffs of smoke, a bad smell and the release of the irritating chemical, according to NASA. "The Elektron is a very fragile thing," Vinogradov later told Moscow. "It was extremely hot. ... I decided to turn it off." Mission Control in Houston then asked Vinogradov to hit a red alarm button that automatically shut down the ventilation system to prevent any toxic fumes or smoke from spreading. About 7:30 a.m. EDT, Houston told the astronauts to put on surgical masks based on air-quality readings. The problem caused a lingering burned-rubber smell, American astronaut Jeff Williams told Houston. Potassium hydroxide, a corrosive also known as potash lye, can cause serious burns, but it has no odor, so the smell was probably caused by a burning gasket, Mission Control informed the crew. The Elektron system has caused problems in the past. It had operated on and off for months before breaking down last spring. In June, the crew tried to reactivate it, with mixed results, after replacing a hydrogen vent valve outside during a spacewalk. The space station has plenty of oxygen, another Elektron and other means of getting oxygen, so air will not be a problem, Suffredini said. Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, whose lunar mission was crippled after an oxygen tank exploded, said astronauts do not fully grasp what happened until they are home. "Once you're safely back on Earth, then you can look back on it with tongue in cheek and say, `Here's what I really should have done,'" Lovell said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...k&printer=1

The White House told lawmakers it would send Congress a revised proposal late Monday for dealing with terrorism suspects as the number of GOP senators publicly opposing President Bush's initial plan continued to grow. A Republican-led Senate committee last week defied Bush and approved terror-detainee legislation that Bush vowed to block. Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), normally a Bush supporter, pushed the measure through his Senate Armed Services Committee by a 15-9 vote. A spokesman for Warner said the Virginia senator expected to receive another draft of the legislation. No details were immediately available. The White House was adamant last week that the Senate proposal would end the CIA program to interrogate terrorists. Top officials spoke with reporters and senators in a bid to shore up support for Bush's legislation instead. Whether Bush would have enough votes to win on the Senate floor remained unclear. On Monday, Warner appeared to have the majority of support in the Senate, with at least 52 votes in their favor if Democrats backed them as expected. GOP Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Olympia Snowe of Maine said they favor Warner's bill, joining Warner and three others who voted for it during the committee meeting last week. There are 44 Democratic senators plus a Democratic-leaning independent, Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...n&printer=1

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday Iraq was in danger of descending into civil war, as insurgents killed more than 30 people in a fresh wave of bomb attacks ahead of the holy month of Ramadan. Annan, opening an international aid conference for Iraq, said: "If current patterns of alienation and violence persist much longer, there is a grave danger that the Iraqi state will break down, possibly in the midst of full-scale civil war." Bracing Baghdad for an expected increase in attacks by al Qaeda and other Sunni militant groups fighting the Shi'ite-led government, U.S. and Iraqi officials are planning to shield the capital from car bombers by sealing off its entrances with checkpoints and trenches. Ramadan starts next week. However, suicide bombers and gunmen have staged deadly attacks in the past two days to the north and the west of the capital, where U.S. forces have diverted troops from the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar province to boost security in Baghdad. On Sunday, a wave of car bombs killed 23 people in ethnically mixed Kirkuk, a disputed city on one of Iraq's most volatile fault lines. Monday's attacks hit a police recruiting center in Anbar's capital, Ramadi, and a market in the north. With bloodshed killing thousands and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra in February, U.S. and Iraqi officials have voiced fears that Iraq is being pushed ever closer to inter-communal war. Iraq's neighbors fear tension could spill over, igniting a region with a similar ethnic and religious mix. Annan's comments before a U.N.-sponsored conference of donors were among his bluntest. "The most immediate task is to broaden support for the kind of action -- at the national, regional and international levels -- that can bring Iraq back from the brink," he said. In Monday's worst bloodshed, a bomb killed 22 people in a market in Tal Afar, north of Baghdad, local police said. Police in nearby Mosul said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber. Earlier, a suicide car bomber killed 13 people in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Police Captain Ahmed Ali said the driver blew himself up outside the center as men gathered to join the force. Sunni insurgents frequently attack recruiting centers for the Iraqi army and police, key parts of Washington's plans to withdraw its forces and allow Iraqis to take over security. The violence, on a day in which six Shi'ites were killed as families were fleeing their homes near Baghdad, occurred as Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish legislators argued over the issues of federalism and reforming the constitution. BREAKUP THREAT Failure to resolve both threaten to break up Iraq. Shi'ites, who dominate the government and the parliament, wanted the assembly on Tuesday to discuss a bill that would allow forming a "super region" in the oil-rich Shi'ite south, as envisaged by some Shi'ite leaders. Minority Sunnis, once dominant under Saddam Hussein, fear federalism will break up Iraq and cut them off from its oil wealth in the north and south. They demand amendments to the constitution to guarantee their rights in a centralized state. After marathon discussions, leaders agreed to set up parliamentary commissions to deal with both issues at the same time. Deep differences over Iraq's layout remain, however. "We have agreed not to present the bill to parliament on Tuesday and allow more time for discussion," a senior Shi'ite source told Reuters at the end of a meeting. As U.S. and Iraqi forces struggle to contain violence, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government said on Monday it was ready to take over security control of a second of Iraq's 15 non- Kurdish provinces from foreign occupying forces this week. The southern province of Dhi Qar, now policed by Italian troops under British command, will follow Muthana province. Maliki says his forces should be in charge of most of Iraq by the end of 2006 but other cabinet members are more cautious. Iraq also announced it assumed command of its 4th army division, the second of 10 divisions now under Iraqi control. Under a plan the United States hopes will weed out sectarian death squads in its ranks, Iraq's police will undergo a month-long re-training course. Sunnis say Shi'ite militia operating inside the police are partly to blame for dozens of bodies being dumped in Baghdad every day. Shi'ites deny this. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060918/ts_nm/...0&printer=1

Police released a sketch Monday of a woman they believe stole a baby after slashing the mother's throat, hoping to generate new clues in the four-day old case. Stephenie Ochsenbine, 21, helped police artists with the composite drawing of the woman she said attacked her at her home on Friday and snatched her baby, Abigale Lynn Woods, now 10 days old. The drawing shows a woman with dark hair wearing a baseball cap. Franklin County Sheriff Gary Toelke said the suspect is believed to be between 5-foot-4 and 5-8 and weighs about 200 pounds. "I think the leads are over 250, and we anticipate getting more calls with the release of the composite," Toelke said at a news conference releasing the sketch. Toelke said Ochsenbine "wasn't completely happy" with the sketch "but it's the best we could come up with." Ochsenbine was released from St. John's Mercy Medical Center in suburban St. Louis on Sunday. She did not attend the news conference. Her grandfather, James Ochsenbine, declined to comment on behalf of the family and declined an interview request with his granddaughter, saying they wanted her to rest. FBI agent Roland Corvington said he was hopeful the baby, called Abby by her relatives, is alive. "From history, if somebody wants a child, I would assume that child's being taken care of," he said. Corvington said authorities were still awaiting lab results on fingerprints from a knife found Sunday near the home, about 45 miles southwest of St. Louis. About 100 members of the Missouri National Guard who have assisted in the investigation have ended their grid search of the area near the home. Toelke said authorities will rely on tips and interviews, though additional searches are planned. Fliers showing the baby were posted in gas stations and restaurants in Union. The 6-pound girl, born Sept. 8, has dark hair and a strawberry birthmark on her forehead. Ochsenbine told police she did not know the woman who came to her door and entered the house asking to use the telephone. Ochsenbine's 1-year-old son, Connor, also was in the house but was unharmed. Ochsenbine and others close to her are not considered suspects, but Toelke said no one has been ruled out. Authorities have asked hospitals and doctors to be on the lookout for anyone bringing in a newborn. The abductor has been profiled as someone who had a child die recently or as someone who could not have children, told people she was pregnant and needed to steal a child so her lie would not be found out. "Historically, these types of people have cased hospitals," Corvington said. From 1983 to 2002, there were 217 reported cases of non-family infant abductions, and all but a few babies were recovered safely within 25 miles of where they had been taken, according to a 2003 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. About three-quarters of the kidnapped infants were recovered in fewer than five days. ___ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...d&printer=1

An Israeli who served as homeland security adviser to former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey said Monday that he never had a relationship with McGreevey, whom he accused of sexually assaulting him. In an interview with The Associated Press, Golan Cipel denied McGreevey's claims that the two were lovers, saying instead that he was the victim of sexual assault. He said he was speaking out now because the former governor's forthcoming book distorts the truth. McGreevey's lawyer denied Cipel's accusations. McGreevey resigned as governor in August 2004 after announcing that he was gay and had cheated on his wife with a man. Aides said then that the governor was forced to leave office because Cipel was trying to extort money from him on false sexual assault allegations. Cipel said McGreevey's attorney offered him at least $2 million to keep the allegations out of court. McGreevey's attorney decided against a settlement, fearing the story would leak to the media anyway, Cipel said. "That's false," McGreevey's lawyer, William Lawler, told the AP on Monday. "It was his (Cipel's) lawyer who contacted us, and eventually we made a referral to the FBI." Cipel, 37, said he is not gay and never had a relationship with McGreevey. "People told me, 'Leave it alone. Move on with your life,'" he said in a telephone interview. "But now when I read McGreevey's book and I see that he is twisting every incident that I accused him of, I will no longer remain quiet. ... I am not afraid of him anymore." McGreevey's book, "The Confession," is due in bookstores Tuesday. Cipel, who now lives and works in Israel, spoke at length to the AP, but declined to give full details of the three incidents. Instead, he sent a lengthy e-mail describing them. In the statement, Cipel said a drunken McGreevey once tried to force himself on him. In a second incident, McGreevey, lying in bed recovering from a broken leg, masturbated in front of him, Cipel said. Cipel said it was the third incident that forced him to leave his job. He said that occurred when he was accompanying McGreevey in a van on a trip to Washington, D.C. The governor was lying on a mattress in the van and Cipel was sitting in a back seat when suddenly McGreevey grabbed his leg and began masturbating, Cipel said. After a struggle, Cipel pulled his leg back and was poised to kick McGreevey in the throat when the governor let go, Cipel wrote. Three state troopers were in the vehicle, he said. Cipel said that when they reached Washington, he was shocked to find himself booked into the same hotel room as McGreevey. He said he locked himself in the bathroom and spent a fitful night trying to sleep on the floor. McGreevey does not mention the incident in his book. "He couldn't because I'm convinced it didn't take place," Lawler said. Lawler said that when Cipel's lawyer first mentioned the alleged incident two years ago, "there was no mention of masturbation. It was alleged to be a sexual act in which Golan participated." Lawler also said the troopers failed to substantiate Cipel's claims. "Jim denies that it happened and so do the troopers," the attorney said. McGreevey's account of Cipel's last days in his administration differed dramatically from Cipel's. The former governor says he asked Cipel to resign after press inquiries about the Israeli's qualifications that culminated with two state investigations. McGreevey says in the book that Cipel first refused to step down, but agreed after McGreevey found him another job. In the book, McGreevey said he and Cipel had a months-long affair that began in December 2001 when his wife was hospitalized after giving birth. After his resignation, McGreevey, 49, remained largely silent until he spoke with Oprah Winfrey about the book; the show is to air Tuesday. He works as an educational consultant and an anti-poverty advocate, and lives in Plainfield, N.J., with his partner, Mark O'Donnell. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...r&printer=1

An armed man ran through the hallways of the Capitol after crashing his SUV through a barricade Monday in the worst breach of security on Capitol Hill since a gunman killed two police officers eight years ago. The man who led police on a chase through the building was Carlos Greene, 20, of Silver Spring, Md., said Acting Capitol Police Chief Christopher McGaffin. Greene had a loaded gun and crack cocaine, McGaffin said. Police charged Greene with federal felony possession and assault of a police officer. McGaffin said there would be a review of Capitol security measures. Police officials and congressional aides said the man was tackled outside a basement office. They said he was carrying a small weapon but there were no reports of shots fired. The incident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. EDT. Congressional aides said the man appeared to be having a seizure and was taken by ambulance to a Washington hospital. Details remained sketchy, but construction workers and police said the man, wearing a blue ballcap, drove an SUV through a barricade at a huge construction site on the east side of the Capitol, across from the Supreme Court. His vehicle also crashed into a water fountain on the plaza in the middle of the construction area. One leadership aide said the SUV clipped a police vehicle parked outside the construction area, the site of a visitors center slated to open next year. The visitors center is being built in part to provide an extra layer of security for visitors to the Capitol following the 1998 incident in which a mentally disturbed man ran through a first-floor door of the Capitol, shooting to death one police officer at the door and another inside the adjacent office of then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Security around the Capitol increased significantly after that shooting, and again after the Sept. 11 attacks. One security officer, speaking on condition of anonymity pending the official briefing, said that after abandoning the vehicle the man ran up the east front steps into the Rotunda, then down a stairway into the basement. He was captured outside an office used for distribution of American flags that lawmakers send their constituents. The Capitol complex was closed for almost an hour before reopening for staff and tourists. Eric Ueland, chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, said that after the capture, police conducted a search through the Capitol to ensure there had been no other intruders. Police cordoned off the vehicle, a light-colored SUV, which sustained a damaged front fender, and searched it. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...t&printer=1

Willie Nelson and four others were issued misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop Monday morning on a Louisiana highway, state police said. The citations were issued after a commercial vehicle inspection of the country music star's tour bus, state police said in a news release. "When the door was opened and the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the strong odor of marijuana," the news release said. A search of the bus produced 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and 0.2 pounds of narcotic mushrooms, according to state police. Nelson's publicist, Elaine Shock, declined immediate comment. Also cited were Tony Sizemore, 59, of St. Cloud, Fla.; Bobbie Nelson, 75, of Briarcliff, Texas; Gates Moore, 54, of Austin, Texas; and David Anderson, 50, of Dallas. Each was released after being issued a citation. Nelson, 73, has recorded songs including "On the Road Again" and "City of New Orleans." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_en_...4&printer=1

Anna Nicole Smith may need a do-over on her do-over. A private pathologist flown in from the United States to perform a second autopsy on the former Playmate's 20-year-old son, Daniel, over the weekend was unable to determine the cause of the young man's sudden death. However, Cyril Wecht, who previously consulted in the investigations of the deaths of Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Laci Peterson, was able to rule out several possible culprits. The 75-year-old pathologist said that his examination on Sunday indicated there was no sign of heart disease, stroke, cancer, systemic infection, pulmonary embolism or "congenital anomaly." "I think that we have a tragic death of a young man, and ultimately the cause is going to be determined," Wecht said. Shortly after Daniel's death on Sept. 10, reports surfaced that there may have been fatal doses of antidepressants in his system. While authorities quickly dismissed the notion, Wecht did confirm that the boy was on prescription antidepressants at the time of his death. Wecht told the Associated Press that Daniel had begun taking the medication to treat depression that "had to do with a girlfriend" four to six weeks prior to his passing. The pathologist stressed, however, that the dosage was "quite low" and that there was no evidence of a "suicidal overdose." He also sided with Bahamian head coroner Linda P. Virgill, whose office labeled the death "suspicious" and "unnatural" because there was no indication that Daniel was unhealthy and that there was no sign of foul play. "I don't find anything that would cause me to believe there is something in terms of some traumatic injury that was inflicted or somebody having done something to him in some cryptic manner that could not be observed," he said. The inconclusive results don't signal an end to Wecht's involvement in the case, though. In fact, it may just be the beginning. He has ordered a second round of comprehensive tests, including a toxicology screening, to compare with those already completed in the Bahamas, and he has also sent for Daniel's medical records from the U.S. Wecht said it could take anywhere from two weeks to four months for conclusive results. The uncertainty of the second autopsy casts even more of a mystery on the shocking death. Last week, Virgill told reporters she believed she knew the cause of Daniel's death but was still awaiting the results of a toxicology test for confirmation. She said she would not reveal her findings until the completion of an inquest, scheduled to begin Oct. 23 and run through November. As part of the investigation, authorities will take testimony from everyone who had contact with the young man prior to his death, including that of his mother and her legal sidekick Howard K. Stern, both of whom were in the room at Nassau's Doctors Hospital when Daniel was found dead. Daniel had arrived in the Bahamas Sept. 9 and went immediately to the private hospital, where Anna Nicole was recovering from giving birth to a daughter via Cesarean section just three days earlier. Anna Nicole found her son slumped in a chair in her hospital room early Sunday morning and hospital staff attempted to resuscitate the boy for more than 20 minutes before declaring him dead. One of her lawyers, Michael Scott, said that the tremendous grief coupled with a sedative, resulted in the 38-year-old TrimSpa model experiencing memory loss of the tragic event. Now, however, Scott says Smith is doing much better. She "is doing well," he said Sunday, adding that Smith "wants everyone to stop jumping to conclusions, take a breath, step back and await the outcome of any reports from Dr. Wecht and Dr. Raju [who performed the initial autopsy] and to await the outcome of any coroner's proceedings." Aside from his consultations on celebrity cases, the Pittsburgh-based Wecht is known for his criticism of the Warren Commission's ruling that a lone gunman killed John F. Kennedy. He is also facing federal charges of using staffers when he was the Allegheny County coroner to work on his own private practice, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Wecht stepped down from the post in January and claims he's innocent. Meanwhile, Daniel's body has been transferred to a Nassau funeral home and will likely be sent back to the U.S. later this week. Funeral arrangements are pending in California. http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060918/en_cel...2&printer=1

Way might not have formed through the merger of several smaller galaxies as previously thought, but by some other unknown process, a new study suggests.

The White House and Senate Republicans who revolted against the president's proposal on tough CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects said on Sunday a compromise was possible to heal a party rift over treatment of prisoners. Stephen Hadley, White House national security adviser, said election-year differences between President George W. Bush and senior senators from his own party could be worked out on legislation to allow the CIA to continue the program. The White House wants Congress to pass a law that would give the CIA a legal foundation for tough questioning methods which it says have protected the country from attack, but which critics say are tantamount to torture. "In a war on terror there are some things that have to remain secret if they are to be effective, but it is not out of control and we're not saying trust us," Hadley said on ABC's "This Week" program. "We're going to the Congress trying to get clear legal standards." A Republican-led Senate committee rebelled against Bush on Thursday, passing a bill giving foreign terrorist suspects broader rights that backers say would repair a U.S. image damaged by harsh treatment of detainees. The rift comes less than two months before November congressional elections in which Republicans, seeking to keep control of Congress, are trying to convince voters that their party can best protect the country. Hadley said any agreement should continue the CIA program, giving interrogators clear guidance, while meeting Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record)'s requirement of no change to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions that bars inhumane treatment of prisoners. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said on CBS that he believed there was a way to "accommodate both interests." He said his staff would meet with aides for Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner of Virginia, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and McCain of Arizona -- senior Republicans who have opposed Bush's plan. But details of any compromise remained unclear. 'MORAL HIGH GROUND' McCain, a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict, also said a compromise was possible and that the United States must hold the "moral high ground" on the issue. "This has nothing to do with al Qaeda. It has everything to do with America," he said on ABC. The White House wants to clarify the ban on "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment" stated in Common Article 3. "I'm saying that nobody knows what humiliating treatment is. What does it mean?" Hadley said on CNN's "Late Edition." On CBS's "Face the Nation," he said: "This is not about torture. This is about a program that is going to be professionally run by people who have been highly trained." The White House will not comment on techniques, but media reports have said "water boarding," which simulates drowning, and sleep deprivation have been employed by the CIA. Newsweek magazine, in its September 25 issue, said the CIA has sought to use techniques that include induced hypothermia, long periods of forced standing, sleep deprivation, "belly slap," and sound and light manipulation. Administration officials have agreed to drop water boarding from a list of approved CIA techniques, Newsweek said. That method was prohibited in the new Army Field Manual. Some lawmakers, including McCain, say they fear the harsh practices put American soldiers at greater risk of abuse if they are captured in conflicts overseas. But National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said if McCain's version of the legislation were enacted, the CIA believed its interrogation program would have to stop. "I think it's very, very important that this program go forth. It's provided valuable information that has saved lives of Americans and significant plots against our homeland have been disrupted as a result," he said on "FOX News Sunday." (Additional reporting by Joanne Kenen and Stuart Grudgings) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060917/pl_nm/...7&printer=1

The number of people sickened by an E. coli outbreak traced to tainted spinach rose to 109 on Sunday, as federal officials announced more brands recalling their products. "This is unquestionably a significant outbreak in terms of E. coli," said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer with the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Natural Selection Foods LLC, the world's largest producer of organic produce, has been linked to the infected greens, prompting a recall of 34 brands. Those brands include the company's own labels and those of other companies that had contracts with Natural Selection, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., to produce or package its spinach. On Sunday, River Ranch Fresh Foods of Salinas, Calif., added to its recall spring mixes containing spinach that were sold under the labels Hy Vee, Fresh and Easy, and Farmers Market, FDA officials said. All contain spinach purchased from Natural Selection, they said. The recalls came as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intervened to help in investigate the outbreak, which has killed a 77-year-old Wisconsin woman, officials said. In Ohio, state health officials said they were investigating the death of a 23-month-old girl who was sickened by E. coli to determine whether the case was related to the outbreak. The girl's mother said she often buys bagged spinach. CDC officials said Sunday they've started an Atlanta-based emergency operations center to help state health agencies with E. coli testing. Epidemiologists are helping test spinach samples and stool samples of infected people, center spokeswoman Lola Russell said. The center is helping when state health agencies can't perform the tests or when a second opinion is needed, Russell said. E. coli cases linked to tainted spinach have been reported in 19 states, with a majority of cases in Wisconsin. Other states reporting cases were California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, according to the CDC. The seven new cases reported Sunday were in states with previous illnesses, Acheson said. The Food and Drug Administration continued to warn consumers not to eat fresh spinach or products containing fresh spinach until further notice. The investigation by the FDA and the California Department of Health Services will widen Monday with the aim of tracing the spinach to individual farms, Acheson said. The inquiry will review irrigation methods, harvest conditions and other practices at farms possibly involved. The spinach could have been contaminated in the field or during processing. About 74 percent of the fresh market spinach grown in the U.S. comes from California, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation. There is no indication that the outbreak was deliberate, Acheson said. It was unclear when it would be safe for consumers to start buying fresh spinach, he added. Natural Selection recalled its packaged spinach throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico as a precaution after federal health officials said some of those hospitalized reported eating brands of prepackaged spinach distributed by the company. However, some restaurants and retailers may be taking spinach out of bags before selling it, so consumers shouldn't buy it at all, the FDA said. Boiling contaminated spinach can kill the bacteria, but washing won't eliminate it, the CDC warned. Federal officials stressed that the bacteria had not been isolated in products sold by Natural Selection, best known for the Earthbound Farm brand. As the investigation continues, other brands may be implicated, officials said. Natural Selection officials have said they're working with federal and state health inspectors to pinpoint the source of the contamination. The company was founded in 1984 by Drew and Myra Goodman. Within two years, Earthbound Farm began shipping pre-washed, packaged salad fixings, and the company's "spring mix" became a mainstay of restaurants and supermarkets. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_...h&printer=1

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline may have found a way to save money on monogramming. The couple has dubbed their second son, born Tuesday, Sutton Pierce, reports said. The name bears the same initial combo as that of eldest child Sean Preston, who turned 1 on Thursday. The gossip site PerezHilton.com appears to have first advanced the Sutton Pierce theory on Wednesday. People seconded it on Friday, sourcing S.P. 2.0 to "sources close to the couple." Spears' camp hasn't confirmed the name. It hasn't confirmed the birth, either. It possibly is tied up with work on Spears' official Website, which began a reconstruction effort this week and was inactive but for an apparent homepage homage to Michael Jackson's "Black and White" video--a growling tiger that morphs into a growling Spears and vice versa. Spears, 24, gave birth to the baby who could be Sutton Pierce early Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was admitted to the hospital after experiencing discomfort Monday, ultimately undergoing a Cesarian section four days earlier than scheduled. According to various baby-name Websites, Sutton is a name of English origin used for both boys and girls, and meaning "the town to the South." Spears hails from the Southern state of Louisiana. Federline, her 28-year-old husband, hails from Fresno, a California city south of Chowchilla. http://news.yahoo.com/s/eo/20060916/en_cel...8&printer=1

Top executives at US aerospace giant Boeing say the latest developments in the industry have vindicated their strategy against European rival Airbus. Boeing, which has been betting heavily on its new mid-size, long-range 787 "Dreamliner" jet, appears poised to catch or overtake its European counterpart in the highly competitive civil aviation marketplace. "This is where Airbus and Boeing have differences: not so much on the number of people traveling, but how airlines will accommodate passengers," Randy Baseler, vice-president of marketing at Boeing, told a recent gathering in the Washington area. While Airbus has been sputtering in its efforts to bring to market the super-jumbo A380 -- which will be the world's biggest passenger plane -- Boeing has set its sights on smaller, more flexible planes like the 787. Unlike the A380, which can carry up to 800 passengers, the 787 is designed for 210 to 330 people. Deliveries are set to begin in 2008. Boeing, which up to now had dominated the jumbojet market with its 747, appears ready to yield that segment to Airbus, suggesting that growth will be elsewhere. The US firm is planning only one new version of its 747 that can carry more tha 500 passengers, the 747-8 "Intercontinental." "The 747 and larger airplane market is forecast to be about 990 airplanes over the next 20 years," Baseler said. "About 325 of them will be in the over-500 seat category where the A380 is positioned and about 325 will be in the 400-500 seat category where the 747-8 Intercontinental is positioned." Baseler said Boeing's forecast is far different from that of Airbus, which sees a market of up to 1,250 super-jumbos. "As a result, Airbus has been putting all of their resources into the A380, leaving a 200-seat gap between the much larger 350- and 550-seat market segments," he said. Another forecast disparity exists in the 200- to 300-seat category. "Boeing forecasts significantly more airplanes than our competitor to serve this market," the Boeing executive said. "This is based on our conviction that passengers want to fly where they want to go, when they want to go. That is, people want to fly nonstop with more frequency choices." While Boeing has been increasing its market share, Airbus has been struggling with delays in its A380 program and has been trying to play catch up against the 787 with the new A350. Baseler said the moves by Airbus show Boeing made the right choice. "Airbus has recognized they can no longer ignore the 787," he said. "They also know todays A330s and A340s cannot compete with the Dreamliner or the 777. As a result of this and the poor market response to their previous A350s, Airbus is in the middle of revising their offering which will be at least four years late to challenge the 787." Baseler argued that Airbus has not yet perfected the use of composite materials for the fuselage as Boeing has for its 787, helping improve fuel economy. Another detail is that the 787 will have larger windows, made possible by the increased strength of the fuselage. Although each manufacturer has been touting the value of their planes, Boeing has been the clear leader to date, with 545 firm orders for passenger jets so far this year to 222 for Airbus. Analyst David Strauss at UBS said all the good news about Boeing appears to be factored into its share price, and cautioned investors that the company may suffer as global economic conditions cool. "At current levels we see an unfavorable risk-reward given a slowing macro environment," Strauss said in a research note. "We expect orders to soften further into 2007." http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060917/bs_af...g&printer=1

The recovery of Ford Motor Co. -- even with plans to cut 45,000 jobs, close 16 factories and save $5 billion -- hinges on a deceptively simple solution: it has to build cars people want to drive, analysts said. "They have a lot of work ahead of them in the product area. It's the biggest challenge of the turnaround," said Standard & Poor's equity analyst Efraim Levy. "Even negotiating with the unions can be done, but ultimately, if they can't start stabilizing market share and growing volume they'll have to go back and cut more." Without cars that sell, more painful medicine is in store even if the accelerated turnaround plan unveiled on Friday delivers exactly as promised, analysts said. After initially pledging to stem market share losses this year, Ford acknowledged its sales will continue to shrink amid the strain of higher interest rates and a slowing economy. Ford (NYSE:F - news) is betting it can hold its market share steady above 14 percent in coming years, compared with above 16 percent currently, according to forecasts released by Ford. By contrast, Ford's U.S. share was more than 25 percent in 1995, when the No. 2 U.S. automaker was riding high on the strength of its trucks and the now-discontinued Taurus sedan. Now, Ford has to defend its market-leading position in full-size pickup trucks, while pushing into areas that analysts and dealers say it has been neglecting far too long -- fuel-efficient passenger cars and "crossover" vehicles, or lighter SUVs built on car platforms, that are quickly winning new fans. However, a car takes almost three years to move from the design studio to the showroom, meaning Ford's push will not be fully felt until 2009, analysts said. While Ford's trucks are selling well, "the big issue for Ford right now ... is that they need to get into the car business in a big way," Group 1 Automotive Inc. (NYSE:GPI - news) Chief Executive Earl Hesterberg said at the Reuters Autos Summit last week in Detroit. "Unfortunately you don't wake up one morning and establish this." FORD PROMISES MORE, FASTER Ford is promising to roll out new models faster. "We've re-examined our entire cycle plan and we've accelerated our work on future products," Ford Executive Vice President Mark Fields said on Friday. "Development is now under way on five new vehicles." Ford did not elaborate on those cars, but offered up other product plans last week. These include a new version of its Mustang muscle car every year and a retro-styled crossover based on its Fairlane prototype unveiled last year. Ford will enter the crossover market in November with its Edge and the Lincoln MKX models. Analysts believe the segment will be the fastest-growing over the next few years, with as many as 70 competing models available by 2009. These include Toyota's newly revamped RAV4, which sparked the crossover craze, and three upcoming GM crossovers -- the GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave and Saturn Outlook. A redesigned version of Ford's flagship F-150 pickup truck will debut in 2008, the company said. Analysts remain cautious about the F-150 given the competition from General Motor Corp.'s (NYSE:GM - news) new Chevrolet Silverado pickup that will hit showrooms later this year, and Toyota Motor Corp.'s (7203.T) all-new Tundra pickup expected in early 2007. "They are going to have to give the F-150 everything they've got and they are not going to get a whole lot from it in terms of sales," said Erich Merkle, an analyst with IRN Inc. "Ford is going to have to fight really hard just to maintain its volume of the F-series." Although Ford executives have said since January they plan to sell a subcompact car in the U.S. market, the company made clear last week that will not happen until 2009. That will be three years after the Japanese car companies launched their latest small car offensive with the Toyota Yaris, the Honda Fit and the Nissan Versa, all of which have proven to be sellout hits in 2006. Merkle said he expected Ford would have three small cars in showrooms toward the end of the decade. Fields said last week those new vehicles would be based on platforms developed outside the U.S. market. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060917/bs_nm/...1&printer=1