• Tools:
• Save |
• Print |
• E-mail |
• Most Popular |

Friday, April 6

Adjust font size:

Editor's Note: The CNN Wire is a running log of the latest news from CNN World Headquarters, reported by CNN's correspondents and producers, and The CNN Wire editors. "Posted" times are Eastern Time.

Military: U.S. soldier in Baghdad killed by powerful explosive

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- One U.S. soldier was killed and four were wounded in eastern Baghdad Friday when a powerful explosive -- the type using components the U.S. administration says originate in Iran -- detonated nearby, the military announced Saturday.

All five soldiers involved in the EFP (explosively-formed projectile) blast were assigned to Multi-National Division-Baghdad. In the past month the unit has arrested 14 suspected insurgents and uncovered two weapons caches during area raids, the military said.

Bush administration officials have alleged that EFPs, and components to make them, are being provided to Shiite groups in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds force. EFPs also stand for explosively-formed penetrators.

With the death the number of U.S. troops killed since the Iraq war began stands at 3,269. (Posted 2:41 a.m.)

McCain tells CBS he regrets comments about Baghdad market walk

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain has admitted he misspoke during a weekend trip to Iraq when he told reporters he had just returned from a Baghdad neighborhood where people could now walk freely, thanks to improved security.

McCain's remarks have been criticized because, during his walk through Baghdad's outdoor Shorja market, he was accompanied by armed troops, as helicopter gunships hovered overhead.

In an interview with CBS News, which will air Sunday on "60 Minutes," McCain said he now regrets making those comments, according to details of the interview released Friday by the network.

"Of course I am going to misspeak, and I've done it on numerous occasions, and I probably will do it in the future," McCain said, according to CBS News. "I regret ... when I divert attention to something I said from my message, but, you know, that's just life."

"I'm happy, frankly, with the way I operate. Otherwise, it would be a lot less fun." (Posted 6:17 p.m.)

Justice Dept. official who invoked Fifth Amendment resigns

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Justice Department official Monica Goodling, who had raised controversy by invoking the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination in her refusal to testify before Congress regarding the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, resigned her job as counselor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales late Friday.

In a brief letter to Gonzales, Goodling gave no reason for her resignation but said it would be effective Saturday.

"I am hereby submitting my resignation to the Office of the Attorney General, effective April 7, 2007. It has been an honor to have served at the Department of Justice for the past five years," Goodling wrote.

The resignation came abruptly, just as the Justice Department was closing for the Easter weekend. There was no warning. Officials had said hours earlier Goodling remained on paid leave of absence from the department. --CNN's Terry Frieden contributed to this report. (Posted 5:02 p.m.)

Senators threaten subpoenas for Justice Department documents

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saying they are "not satisfied" with the "selective production and unilateral redaction decisions" of documents the Department of Justice has turned over to Congress related to the firing of U.S. attorneys, three top Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee warned U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Friday that the committee will issue subpoenas if required to get the material.

In a letter, committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California said Gonzales has "not provided any valid legal basis" for the redactions or for withholding documents altogether, and said the committee is prepared to vote next Thursday to authorize subpoenas for the documents.

Those documents include about 1,000 previously unreleased items shown privately in the last two weeks to congressional investigators working out of an office at the Justice Department, according to a Senate source.

The source said the Justice Department is restricting investigators from taking notes on or making copies of the material and said the department is resisting repeated requests from the committee to publicly release the documents. --From CNN's Congressional Producer Ted Barrett (Posted 4:50 p.m.)

Not so sweet: Equal takes Splenda to court

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The makers of the United States' two most popular artificial sweeteners head to court Monday, with Equal claiming newcomer Splenda is misleading consumers by telling them the product is made from sugar.

Merisant Co., the maker of Equal and NutraSweet, contends the maker of Splenda is guilty of false advertising with its "Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar" slogan, a person familiar with Merisant's case said Friday.

"Consumers deserve accurate information and competition requires an even playing field," Jonathan Cole, general council for Merisant, said in a written statement. "Johnson & Johnson has advertised Splenda in a manner that misleads consumers."

Splenda is made from sucralose, a chemical ingredient its maker, Johnson & Johnson-owned McNeil Nutritionals, synthesizes in a lab from table sugar, a McNeil spokeswoman told CNNMoney.com. (Posted 2:53 p.m.)

Noted Iraq reporter found shot dead in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A well-known Iraqi journalist was found shot dead in Baghdad on Thursday, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

She was Khamail Muhsin Khalaf, a reporter for Radio Free Iraq, who worked for the Arabic-language service of RFE/RL in Iraq.

Radio Free Iraq Bureau Chief Nabil al-Haidari said Friday in an interview posted on RFE/RL's Web site that she was kidnapped Tuesday afternoon while he was headed to the bureau from home. She was found shot dead near her home.

Also Thursday, a suicide truck bomb in the capital at the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Islamic Party's Baghdad TV killed the station's deputy director, Thaer Ahmad Jaber, and injured 12 employees. (Posted 2:05 p.m.)

U.S. military: Operation leaves 3 slain insurgents, yields 27 detainees, uncovers EFP-making facility

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Three insurgents were killed and 27 people were detained Friday in a military operation targeting militia activity in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya, the U.S. military said.

Troops also found a site where powerful explosives -- the type using components the U.S. administration says originate in Iran -- were being assembled.

The push -- which started on Friday and is dubbed Operation Black Eagle, -- is being led by Iraqi soldiers and supported by coalition soldiers and paratroopers. Diwaniya, seat of Qadisiya province, is a predominantly Shiite city with a presence of Shiite militias.

The report covers Friday's events, which have ended, the military told CNN. But a military press officer told CNN in an e-mail that "Operation Black Eagle is an ongoing, overarching operation." (Posted 12:52 p.m.)

Iranian TV accuses Blair of controlling what freed troops say

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- State-run television in Iran accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday of pressuring the freed marines and sailors into disavowing their admission to the Iraqi military that their vessel had strayed into Iranian territorial waters.

The broadcasts, which reflect the Iranian government's stance, came after a news conference in Britain during which some of the troops described what happened during their captivity, said CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr in Tehran.

The Britons said remarks they made for cameras in Iran, saying they had entered Iranian waters, were nothing more than "propaganda" and "a stunt" forced upon them as a condition for their safe return.

Bozorgmehr said the Iranians he talked to in the streets took it for granted that the Britons would deny what they had said in Iran once they returned home. (Posted 12:18 p.m.)

NATO-led troops put heat on Taliban in southern Afghan province

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CNN) -- NATO and Afghan troops working to oust the Taliban from a restive southern province conducted another "air mobile assault" Friday morning, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.

The latest military push -- part of the month-old spring offensive in Helmand province dubbed Operation Achilles -- focused on the Sangin Valley region, where troops moved into the Sangin District Center.

"Today, combined ISAF and ANSF ground forces continue their advance and clearing operations to flush out Taliban extremists and to secure the many compounds they have used in the past to launch harassing attacks and destabilize the region," the International Security Assistance Force said. ANSF stands for Afghan National Security Forces.

An earlier air assault in the Sangin Valley took place Wednesday night and Thursday morning, when hundreds of helicopter-borne troops were airlifted into the region. (Posted 11:16 a.m.)

At least 25 killed by Ramadi suicide truck bomb containing chlorine

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A suicide bomber in western Ramadi on Friday detonated a truck carrying chlorine-gas cylinders, killing at least 25 people and wounding 32, an Iraq Interior Ministry official said.

The incident took place in the Tamim neighborhood. Women and children were among the victims.

The tactic employed by Sunni Arab insurgents of deploying chlorine gas in vehicle bombings emerged this year in Anbar province and in Baghdad. This attack occurred near a police checkpoint.

Ramadi is the provincial capital of Anbar province, the vast and volatile Sunni Arab region that includes the Euphrates River valley, where fighting has raged for years. --From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq (Posted 10:38 a.m.)

British troops: We were in Iraqi waters

BARNSTAPLE, England (CNN) -- Despite statements the troops made while they were held by Iran, they were in Iraqi territorial waters when seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, they said Friday.

Lt. Felix Carman of the British Royal Navy, reading a statement at a news conference, said the troops were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters when the incident occurred.

After being taken, the troops faced constant "psychological pressure" and were presented with two options: to admit having strayed into Iranian waters or face up to seven years in prison in Iran, he said.

The troops were kept in isolation until the last few nights, when they were brought into the glare of the Iranian media, he said. (Posted 10:24 a.m.)

Fugitive in New Jersey bank robbery incident is captured

(CNN) -- New Jersey State Police Friday apprehended a suspect involved in Thursday's shooting that took the life of an FBI agent in Branchburg.

FBI Special Agent Shawn Quinn told CNN that the New Jersey State Police took the suspect into custody around 8:10 a.m. behind a residence about a mile from where the deadly shooting took place in the parking lot of a bank.

The FBI says state police were tipped by a resident in the area who called authorities after seeing a shirtless man trying to break into her vehicle.

The man, Francisco Herrera-Genao, 22, of New Brunswick is believed to be an accomplice of three other suspects linked to several bank robberies in the area.

FBI Special Agent Barry Lee Bush, 52, was killed Thursday during the incident in Readington, N.J. as agents attempted to arrest suspects in a string of bank robberies. --By CNN's Caleb Silver (Posted 9:51 a.m.)

FDA: Additive may have intentionally been added to pet food

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Someone may have added melamine to the wheat glutin used in pet foods to increase profits, but that is only one theory being investigated by the FDA, which has linked kidney failure in an indeterminate number of cats and dogs to the product, an agency official said Friday.

"We don't know if it was intentionally added at this time, said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine for the Food and Drug Administration.

"Somebody may have added melamine to the wheat gluten in order to increase what appears to be the protein level. Wheat gluten is a high protein substance and by trying to ... inflate the protein level, it could command a higher price. That is one theory at this point," he told CNN's American Morning.

"We believe we have accounted for all of the wheat gluten that came from China," he said. "And by the way, it all went into pet food."

Although the limited available toxicological evidence indicates that, at least in laboratory animals, melamine is relatively non-toxic, the wheat glutin is the most probably source of the contamination that has alarmed pet owners. (Posted 9:18 p.m.)

U.S. soldier killed in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A U.S. soldier was killed by gunfire in northern Iraq on Thursday, the U.S. military said Friday.

The Task Force Lightning soldier died in Tameem province, where Kirkuk is located. Another soldier was wounded.

The fatality brings the U.S. military death toll in Iraq to 3,268 since the Iraq war began.(Posted 8:22 a.m.)

Four National Guard brigades will be sent into Iraq for a second time

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For the first time during the four-year-old Iraq war, U.S. National Guard units will return to the war-torn country for a second time.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is expected to sign papers on Friday for four National Guard brigades to return to Iraq later this year or early in 2008, U.S. military officials told CNN.

The guard brigades would be rotated into the country to replace troops who are leaving and the deployment would not increase the number of troops there.The deployment is 12,000 troops.

Some of the National Guard members will be newly joined members and will be going for the first time. Others will be returning for another tour. The guard members will performing security for military bases and convoys. --From CNN's Barbara Starr (Posted 7:49 a.m.)

Iraqi-U.S. forces crack down on Shiite militias in southern province

(CNN) -- Iraqi and U.S. security forces conducted house-to-house searches in the southern Iraqi province of Diwaniya as part of a security operation aimed at curbing the power of Shiite militias, an Interior Ministry official told CNN.

Clashes between the militias and the joint U.S.-Iraqi forces erupted in some parts of the predominantly Shiite city -- which is the capital of Qadisiya province. Seventeen people, including three militia members, were wounded, and a senior militia member was arrested.

The U.S. military on Friday reported two Wednesday incidents in the Baghdad area:

-- Two insurgents were killed in an apparent attempt to set off a suicide bomb at a military checkpoint south of Baghdad. Iraqi troops shot the passenger of the car after witnessing the man fiddling with the bomb's wiring. The driver then detonated the bomb but no other casualties resulted, the military said.

-- A security detainee died at the Camp Cropper detention facility in the Baghdad area. Authorities are attempting to determine the cause of death. --CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report (Posted 7:17 a.m.)

U.S., Iraqi troops launch crackdowns this week in northern, southern Iraq

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces have teamed up this week to crack down on militants through security sweeps launched in northern Iraq's Nineveh province and the Shiite city of Diwaniya, in the country's south.

Early Friday, U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces conducted house-to-house searches south of Baghdad in Diwaniya, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official told CNN.

The sweep, dubbed Operation Black Eagle, is aimed at curbing Shiite militias in Diwaniya, located about 112 miles south of Baghdad. (Posted 6:48 a.m.)

Suicide bomber driving taxi kills 4 in Kabul attack

(CNN) -- Kabul police said a suicide bomber driving a taxi exploded himself, killing an officer and three Afghan bystanders in the capital Friday despite police attempts to stop the attack.

"Police identified the taxi and tried to stop it and open the door of the taxi" but the bomber set off his explosives, Kabul Police Chief Esmatullah Dawlatzai said.

At least three other people were wounded in the attack, which took place in a congested area near the city's center, a police spokesman said. Posted 3:31 a.m.)

Detainee dies at U.S. prison near Baghdad Airport

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A "security detainee" was pronounced dead Wednesday by a physician at the U.S. detention facility Camp Cropper, located near Baghdad Airport, a U.S. military statement said Friday.

The cause of the prisoner's death was not immediately known but the military said it was investigating the incident.

The detention facility is used by the military for "high-value" prisoners, but there was no information on why the detainee was incarcerated and no name was released. (Posted 3:11 a.m.)

New intelligence director has difficulty filling deputy slot

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has run into difficulty filling the key No. 2 slot in his office after six candidates either turned down the job or were rejected by the White House, people familiar with the personnel process told CNN Thursday.

The post of deputy director has not had a permanent occupant since May, when the man who held it, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, was named CIA director. The White House declined to comment on the search for McConnell's deputy.

His spokesman, Chad Kolton, told CNN that McConnell "is working diligently with the White House to identify the right candidate for the job." Kolton declined to say how much longer the process might take. But he described the post as "absolutely vital" to the intelligence director's mission.

McConnell, former director of the National Security Agency, became intelligence director in February, responsible for coordinating the work of the nation's 16 different intelligence agencies. The post was created in 2004, as part of a series of reforms undertaken in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. -- From CNN's Pam Benson (Posted 10:33 p.m.)

FBI: Agent may have been accidentally shot by another agent

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Preliminary information suggests an FBI agent killed Thursday while attempting to arrest three bank-robbery suspects in New Jersey may have been fatally wounded when another agent's weapon accidentally fired, the bureau said in a statement.

Barry Lee Bush, 52, a special agent assigned to the Newark FBI office, died after the incident in Readington, N.J. Bush was wounded during a "dynamic arrest situation," the FBI said.

"Special Agent Bush and his team were in pursuit of heavily armed serial bank robbers who are believed to be responsible for four bank robberies," according to a statement from the bureau. "In two of those robberies, the suspects, armed with assault weapons, fired rounds while inside the bank."

Two of the suspects were in custody, according to a federal court spokesman. A third was being sought.

An FBI spokesman said Thursday night that to his knowledge, the suspects did not fire at agents. (Posted 10:12 p.m.)

Federer claims record 15th grand slam title Roger Federer claimed his record 15th grand slam crown and sixth Wimbledon title as he beat Andy Roddick 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 in an epic final on Sunday.

---

• Disney monorail crash kills driver
• Steve McNair found shot to death
• Federer claims Wimbledon crown
• D.C.'s Marion Barry arrested again
• Russian fans honor Michael Jackson

• Honduras vows to keep deposed president out
• Monorail crash at Disney World kills driver
• Ex-NFL QB McNair found shot to death
• Ticker: Palin's lawyer issues warning to media
• Personal details of UK spy chief on Facebook

• Talkin' 'Icky Thump' blues (1:40)
• 'Why you treat yourself bad?' (3:15)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)
• Unseemly rap lyrics targeted (3:29)
• Now In The News (Updated: 9:45 a.m. ET)