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Suspect confesses to USS Cole bombing
WASHINGTON - Waleed Mohammed bin Attash, long suspected of plotting the 2000 bombing of the Navy guided missile destroyer USS Cole, confessed to planning the attack during a hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a Pentagon transcript released today.
An alleged chief operational planner for al-Qaida, bin Attash also said he helped organize the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 that killed more than 200, the transcript said.
Seventeen sailors were killed and dozens injured when suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the Cole.
United States, N. Korea end frozen fund dispute
BEIJING - The United States and North Korea have resolved a dispute over $25 million in frozen North Korean funds, clearing the way for progress in dismantling the North's nuclear programs, U.S. officials said today.
The U.S. nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, said six-party talks - which resumed today - could now "move on to the next problem, of which there are many."
U.S. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser said the funds would be transferred into a North Korean account at the Bank of China in Beijing to be used for education and humanitarian purposes. Glaser said North Korea had proposed the arrangement.
The North Korean deposits have been frozen in the privately run Macau-based Banco Delta Asia.
The funds, some of which U.S. authorities suspect may be linked to counterfeiting or money laundering by cash-starved North Korea, had held up progress in nuclear disarmament talks.
Explosions in Iraq leave 20 people dead
BAGHDAD - An explosion ripped through a Shiite mosque during prayers today in Baghdad, killing at least eight worshippers, while a series of four car bombs struck the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, killing 12 people, police said.
The attacks on the fourth anniversary of the war highlighted the challenges facing United States and Iraqi forces seeking to curb sectarian violence with a month-old security crackdown that has led to a drastic drop in execution-style killings but failed to stop the bombings.
Rice defends decision to invade
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today staunchly defended going to war in Iraq, but acknowledged the Bush administration likely erred by failing initially to send enough troops to quell the civil strife that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Rice said patience still is required and asserted anew that the Iraqis are making headway in completing the transition toward democracy.
Anti-war marches throughout nation
WASHINGTON - The fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq brought out anti-war protesters throughout the nation over the weekend.
Cities where demonstrations were held included Washington, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Hartford, Conn., Portland, Ore., and Albuquerque.
No counter-demonstrators were visibly present in New York, as they had been at an anti-war rally in Washington on Saturday that drew thousands to the Pentagon and the Lincoln Memorial.
Embassy vehicles hit in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - A car bomb exploded near a three-vehicle U.S. Embassy convoy on a busy road in Kabul today, wounding several people, one seriously, officials said.
The blast badly damaged the front of one SUV that was shunted to the other side of the road. First aid was administered to at least two people at the scene.
The other two vehicles in convoy also were damaged.
Joe Mellott, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, said the U.S. ambassador, Ronald Neumann, was not in the convoy.
Israel won't talk to Palestinians
JERUSALEM - Israel will not talk peace with the new Palestinian unity government, charging it does not recognize Israel and renounce violence, but there were initial signs the West would adopt a more conciliatory approach.
In a break from the Israelis, the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem said the United States wouldn't rule out contact with non-Hamas members of the new government.
The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday endorsed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's hard line, urging the West to maintain harsh economic sanctions imposed with last year's election of the militant Islamic Hamas.
U.S., Israel hold joint maneuvers
JERUSALEM - Thousands of American and Israeli troops conducted an operation to test new ways of intercepting missiles able to carry nuclear, chemical and biological warheads, American and Israeli military officials said.
Israel and the United States are concerned that Iran could be developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles able to threaten Israel. But both sides said the timing of the operation Sunday in southern Israel's Negev Desert was routine and unrelated to those fears.
The current drill began last week and is set to end Tuesday.
Gas explosion kills 61 in Siberian mine
A methane gas explosion ripped through a Siberian coal mine today, killing at least 61 miners among nearly 200 working underground, government and emergency officials said.
Around 186 miners were working in the mine in the coal-rich southern Kuzbass region when the blast occurred early today. The Kemerovo administration said earlier that 88 had been brought safely to the surface, with evacuation efforts continuing.
Seven pilot whales die in Ecuador
QUITO, Ecuador - Seven pilot whales that came ashore on the Galapagos Islands died, despite the efforts of rescuers who dug makeshift pools in the sand to keep them from dehydrating. Five other whales in the group were returned to the ocean.
The whales, which are 10 to 30 feet long, came ashore late Saturday near the southern town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island, the largest of the Galapagos, said Rosa Leon, a spokeswoman for the Galapagos National Park.
3 Buddhist women shot in Thailand
SABAYOI, Thailand - Suspected Muslim separatists shot and killed three Buddhist women involved with a project for victims of Thailand's insurgency today, just two days after three Muslim children were killed in an attack on a boarding school.
Thailand is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but the country's far south is predominantly Muslim.
