The CNN Wire: Friday, July 27

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.

Phoenix news choppers collide; 4 dead

(CNN) -- A police chase through the streets of downtown Phoenix turned into a mid-air tragedy Friday afternoon when two television news helicopters covering the action collided and crashed to the ground in smoke and flame, killing all four people on board.

KTVK-TV said photojournalist Jim Cox and pilot Scott Bowerback were killed. KNXV-TV identified its crew as photographer Rick Krolak and pilot Craig Smith.

The helicopters collided as the rival stations were covering the police pursuit of a white truck towing a trailer. Assistant Chief Mark Angle of the Phoenix Fire Department said wreckage from both helicopters then landed in a downtown park. (Posted 5:55 p.m.)

Congress passes 9/11 security recommendations

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House Friday approved security legislation implementing many of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission.

The vote for passage was 371-40. The Senate passed the bill Thursday by an 85-8 vote, so Friday's action means the measure goes to President Bush's desk for his signature.

The bill governs homeland security grants, including grants to improve communications between first responders, and requires that a system for inspecting 100 percent of air cargo be phased in over a three-year period.

The bill also covers container shipments from foreign ports, human smuggling and trafficking, and information sharing. (Posted 5:20 a.m.)

Nike, Reebok halt sales of Vick products; Nike suspends Vick contract

(CNN) -- Athletic shoe giant Nike said Friday it has suspended the contract of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who is facing federal dogfighting charges, and -- for now -- will not sell any more products bearing his name at Nike retail stores.

However, despite pressure from animal-rights groups, Nike stopped short of terminating its relationship with Vick.

Saying the company "is concerned by the serious and highly disturbing allegations made against Michael Vick, Nike said Vick's contract was suspended without pay. The company earlier had suspended the release of a shoe bearing his name.

In addition, Reebok, the official supplier of NFL apparel and equipment, said it will immediately stop sales of Vick NFL products at retail stores and online through its Web site. The company, which said it does not have an individual endorsement or marketing relationship with Vick, said it will also honor retail cancellations of Vick NFL jerseys. (Posted 5:18 p.m.)

13 dead, 61 injured in suicide bombing near Pakistani mosque

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomb at a restaurant near Islamabad's Red Mosque on Friday killed 13 people and wounded 61, a Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Seven of the dead and 14 of the injured were police officers, and police appear to have been the targets of the attack, said the spokesman, Javed Iqbal Cheema.

The blast occurred at a restaurant in a busy market. Investigators were trying to determine if the blast was connected to the government siege earlier this month or unrest that occurred there on Friday -- the weekly Muslim holy day.

Hundreds of students, massing outside the mosque in a protest after Friday prayers, have been chanting anti-government slogans at the site, where the Pakistani military squared off with Islamic extremists holed up in the mosque earlier this month. (Posted 5:13 p.m.)

Minimum wage $9.50? Democrats say maybe

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Just days after the first increase in the minimum wage in 10 years, Democrats on Capitol Hill led by Sen. Edward Kennedy are discussing a further increase to $9.50 an hour.

Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the original sponsors of the recently enacted minimum wage hike, announced this week his intention to propose legislation for a new increase, Laura Capps, a spokeswoman for the senator, said.

The proposal will aim to take effect in 2009 after the current minimum wage law expires. No time frame was given for the legislation.

An aide in another Senate Democrat's office confirmed there will be a push for another wage increase. (Posted 5:11 p.m.)

Another triple-digit drop for the Dow

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A late session sell-off sent stocks tumbling for the second straight session Friday, with the Dow industrials plunging more than 200 points amid continued worries about credit markets and a surge in oil prices.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 149.49 to 13,324.08) plunged 206 points, or 1.5 percent based on early tallies, after falling 311 points just a day earlier, the second biggest point loss of the year.

The broader S&P 500 (down 17.13 to 1,465.53) lost 1.6 percent while the tech-fueled Nasdaq composite index (down 27.57 to 2,571.77) slipped 1.4 percent.

"There's been no fundamental problem, other than people are worried about the corporate bond market," said Tony Dwyer, equity market strategist at FTN Midwest Research. "This is one of those cases where fear is worse than reality." (Posted 5:09 a.m.)

Phoenix news choppers crash; 3 dead

(CNN) -- Three people were killed Friday afternoon when helicopters from two TV news stations in Phoenix collided while following a police chase, according to fire and station officials.

The choppers that collided belonged to KTVK and KNXV, both CNN affiliates. Aerial video of the scene, shot by another station, KPNX, showed a charred debris field.

Capt. Victor Rangel, a spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department, put the death toll at three. (Posted 4:21 p.m.)

6 Iraqi police killed by Samarra roadside bomb

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Six Iraqi police were killed and four were wounded Friday when a roadside bomb struck their patrol in Samarra's Dhubat neighborhood, a Samarra police official said.

The incident took place about 10 p.m. Samarra is about 60 miles (100 km) north of Baghdad.

Separately, Baghdad police found seven slain bodies across the capital Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

The dumped bodies found daily are thought to be the result of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence. The total number of such deaths this month now stands at 531. (Posted 4:15 p.m.)

Aquafina labels to indicate product comes from tap water

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Pepsi-Cola announced Friday that the labels of Pepsi's Aquafina brand bottled water will be changed to make it clear the product is tap water.

Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman Michelle Naughton said the new labels on Aquafina water -- which comes from major cities across the country -- will spell out "Public Water Source" as opposed to the way it is currently labeled: "Bottled at the source P.W.S."

Nestle also has announced it will be changing the bottles of its All Nestle Pure Life Purified Drinking Water to "identify the source of the water, whether its from a municipal supply or ground water well source."

Corporate Accountability International -- which describes its work as challenging "irresponsible and dangerous corporate actions around the world" -- has been pushing for this change for months with its nationwide "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, said spokeswoman Deborah Lapidus. (Posted 2:50 p.m.)

White House spokesman: Gonzales, Mueller both right

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- White House spokesman Tony Snow denied Friday that FBI Director Robert Mueller contradicted his boss' congressional testimony in which he said there was no disagreement in the Bush administration over the "legality or propriety" of a controversial surveillance program.

"I'm just a little confused ... trying to iron out whether (Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales contradicted himself and whether he and Mueller contradicted each other or not," a reporter asked Snow at a news conference.

Snow replied that Gonzales "has testified truthfully and tried to be very accurate."

And referring to Mueller, Snow said, "He was very careful about his words," and pointed out that there are other programs under the National Security Agency.

When publicly discussing "matters of classification," Snow said, "Sometimes it's going to lead people to talk very carefully and there's going to be plenty room for interpretation." (Posted 1:51 p.m.)

11 dead, 43 injured in blast near mosque

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Police might have been the targets of the Friday blast near Islamabad's Red Mosque that killed 11 people and wounded 43, a Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman said.

Seven of the dead were police officers, said the spokesman, Javed Iqbal Cheema.

The blast occurred at a restaurant, and investigators are attempting to determine whether a bomb was planted or the blast was the result of a suicide attack, police sources said.

Investigators also are trying to determine if the blast was connected to the government siege earlier this month or unrest that occurred there on Friday -- the weekly Muslim holy day. (Posted 1:31 p.m.)

U.S., India reach deal to share nuclear fuel and technology

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and India announced Friday a landmark deal on nuclear cooperation for civil purposes that they said will benefit both countries and strengthen international non-proliferation efforts.

But the deal is drawing criticism as being too conciliatory to India and opening the way to the spread of nuclear weapons.

For the first time in 30 years, India will have access to U.S. nuclear fuel and technology, despite the fact New Dehli, which has tested nuclear weapons, refuses to join international non-proliferation agreements.

"The conclusion of negotiations on this agreement marks a major step forward in fulfilling the promise of full civil nuclear cooperation as envisioned by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Indian Foreign Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee in a joint written statement. (Posted 1:28 p.m.)

3 NATO soldiers, 1 Afghan soldier killed in Afghanistan fighting

(CNN) -- Three NATO soldiers died Friday in Afghanistan fighting, two in the east and one in the south, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.

Along with the two killed during fighting in Regional Command East, an Afghan National Army soldier was killed and 15 others were wounded. The 15 included 13 ISAF members, an Afghan soldier and a civilian, ISAF said.

The slain ISAF soldier in the south was killed during an "engagement with enemy fighters," it said.

The nationalities of the people killed and wounded were not immediately released. (Posted 12:38 p.m.)

NASA report cites concerns over intoxicated astronauts

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (CNN) -- A report released Friday by NASA cited two alleged cases in which astronauts were so intoxicated that flight surgeons or fellow astronauts raised concerns over flight safety -- but the astronauts in question were still allowed to fly.

"Interviews with both flight surgeons and astronauts identified some episodes of heavy use of alcohol by astronauts in the immediate preflight period, which has led to flight safety concerns," a NASA panel said in its report.

"Alcohol is freely used in crew quarters. Two specific instances were described where astronauts had been so intoxicated prior to flight that flight surgeons and/or fellow astronauts raised concerns to local on-scene leadership regarding flight safety. However, the individuals were still permitted to fly."

The panel, looking into NASA's medical and psychological screening process, said certification of astronauts for flight duty "is not structured to detect such episodes, nor is any medical surveillance program by itself likely to detect them or change the pattern of alcohol use." (Posted 12:12 p.m.)

Nicole Richie to serve 90 hours in jail for DUI

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Television actress Nicole Richie was sentenced Friday to serve 90 hours in jail for driving under the influence in December.

Richie, 25, was sentenced to 96 hours, or four days, but was given credit for the six hours she has already served in jail. She will also be on probation for three years, and was fined $2,048.

It was not immediately known where the time would be served.

Richie was arrested in December after police were notified by motorists who spotted her SUV going the wrong way on the State Highway 134 freeway in Burbank, Calif. (Posted 12:08 p.m.)

10 dead, 39 injured in blast near mosque

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Ten people were killed and 39 were wounded Friday in a blast near Islamabad's Red Mosque, police sources told CNN.

The blast occurred at a restaurant and several of those killed were police. Investigators were attempting to determine whether a bomb was planted or the blast was the result of a suicide attack.

Investigators also are trying to determine whether the blast was connected to the government siege earlier this month or unrest that occurred there on Friday -- the weekly Muslim holy day.

Hundreds of students, massing outside the mosque in a protest after Friday prayers, have been chanting anti-government slogans at the site, where the Pakistani military squared off with Islamic extremists holed up in the mosque earlier this month. Friday marked the first time since the end of the mosque's bloody siege that worship was allowed inside. (Posted 10:08 a.m.)

Economic growth picks up in 2nd quarter

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The nation's economic growth picked up in the second quarter, according to the government's first reading on the overall economy in the period.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 3.4 percent, according to Friday's Commerce Department report on gross domestic product, the broad measure of the nation's economic activity. That's up from a revised 0.6 percent growth rate in the final reading of first-quarter growth.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a 3.2 percent gain in GDP.

The report also contained some good news on inflation. The overall measure of prices in the economy fell to a 2.7 percent rise in the quarter from a 4.2 percent gain in the first quarter. That was lower than the forecast of a 3.4 percent percent rise. (Posted 9:46 a.m.)

NASA report expected to address allegations of drunken astronauts

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (CNN) -- A report being issued Friday by a NASA panel says that on least two occasions, astronauts were permitted to fly despite warnings that they were drunk and posed a safety risk, Aviation Week has reported.

The publication said those warnings came from flight surgeons and other astronauts.

Aviation Week, which said it obtained the panel's findings, reported that the panel also found "heavy use of alcohol" by astronauts within 12 hours of launch.

A NASA official told The Associated Press the allegations of pre-launch drinking are based on anonymous interviews and are unsubstantiated. AP said the official did not want to be named because NASA plans a news conference Friday to discuss the findings. (Posted 9:35 a.m.)

U.N. drive to get Iraqi refugee kids back to school

(CNN) -- Two U.N. agencies have begun a drive to get 155,000 Iraqi refugee children in neighboring Middle Eastern nations back to school.

The U.N. Children's Fund and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday they started a $129 million appeal to help host governments in Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon provide classes.

The United Nations is concerned that "a generation of Iraqis" displaced by the warfare in their country "could grow up uneducated and alienated."

The United Nations says that more than 2 million Iraqis have fled to nearby countries -- primarily Syria and Jordan -- to escape continuing violence in their homeland. It says about 500,000 are school-age. (Posted 9:21 a.m.)

4 dead, 20 injured in blast near mosque

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Four people were killed and 20 were wounded on Friday in a blast near Islamabad's Red Mosque, police sources told CNN. (Posted 8:53 a.m.)

17 killed in southern Iraqi fighting

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- At least 17 people were killed Friday when U.S. and Iraqi forces battled "rogue" Shiite militia members in Karbala after a raid, the U.S. military said.

However, a hospital official said earlier that at least nine people were killed and 25 were wounded in the fighting, with some of the casualties being women and children.

The U.S. military said troops conducted a raid "without incident" that led to the detention of "a high-level rogue" militia leader -- a commander of the Mehdi Army in western Karbala." The Mehdi Army is the militia of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

But trouble started when attackers using "small arms weapons, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades" fired at U.S. and Iraqi troops leaving the scene. (Posted 8:26 a.m.)

In Iraq's Shiite south, militias led by warlords slug it out for turf

(CNN) -- The fight between U.S.-led forces and militants in and near Baghdad and the sectarian civil war raging in the capital has overshadowed another grim wartime Iraqi reality -- the persistent factional strife in the country's southern Shiite heartland.

Experts who study the region attribute the instability to local turf battles among "warlords" and their fighters in an unstable political and social environment that is coming to resemble a failed state.

"Iraqi politicians are progressively turning into warlords," said Peter Harling senior analyst with the Middle East Program of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, when asked about the Shiite south. He says what has been unfolding in the south is a "very crude struggle over power and resources." (Posted 7:35 a.m.)

Anti-government protesters gather outside Islamabad's Red Mosque following prayers

(CNN) -- After Friday prayers, hundreds of students chanting anti-government slogans protested outside Islamabad's Red Mosque, where the Pakistani military squared off with Islamic extremists holed up in the mosque earlier this month, police said.

Friday marked the first time since the end of the mosque's bloody siege that worship was allowed inside.

Police said around 1, 000 students took part in the protest. They chanted anti-government slogans and painted part of the mosque red.

Earlier in the month dozens of people were killed -- including women and children -- as part of a week-long stand-off between Islamic extremists who stormed the mosque and Pakistan's military.

The extremists want to impose a Taliban-style rule across the capital. (Posted 7:17 a.m.) -- From CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi

Driver killed in crash with Greyhound bus on Alabama interstate

(CNN) -- The driver of an SUV was killed Friday in a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus traveling on a Montgomery, Ala. interstate, the town's mayor, Bobby Bright, told reporters at a news conference.

The fatality occurred on Interstate 65 when the driver "was traveling northbound in the wrong lane and collided head-on with the Greyhound bus," Bright said.

It was not immediately known how many passengers were on the bus, but Police Chief Art Baylor said some of the injured passengers were transported to Baptist South Hospital. (Posted 7:17 a.m.)

Another soldier killed in Diyala province fighting

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- The U.S. military is reporting another U.S. troop death in Iraq's volatile Diyala province, which has emerged as a major front in the U.S.-led war against the insurgency.

The military announced on Friday that a U.S. soldier was killed by an explosion near his vehicle on Thursday. The soldier had been involved in operations against militants, the targets of proactive operations by U.S. and Iraqi troops.

This comes after reports of five troop deaths in Diyala on Tuesday. Three Marines and a sailor died in combat in the province and a soldier died in Baquba of injuries from a bombing, the military said. The number of U.S. military deaths in the war is now 3,646 and the number of deaths this month is 67.

Diyala province is the territory north and east of Baghdad and bordering Iran. It is a religiously and ethnically mixed region. (Posted 7:15 a.m.)

Australian authorities drop terrorism charges against Indian doctor

(CNN) -- Australia's top prosecutor on Friday dropped charges against an Indian-born doctor accused of providing material support to the suspects in last month's failed bomb attacks in Britain.

Dr. Mohammed Haneef, 27, was charged with reckless support of terrorism for allegedly providing a mobile phone memory card to his cousin, Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, one of three people British police have charged in connection with the discovery of two explosives-laden cars in London on June 29 and an attempted suicide attack on the Glasgow airport in Scotland the following day.

Prosecutors withdrew charges against Haneef in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday, following a review of the evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions Damian Bugg, who cited major errors in the case.

The director said he found no reasonable chance of convicting Haneef, who was arrested July 2 in Australia while attempting to leave the country for India. (Posted 5 a.m.)

Third person dies in explosion at rocket test pad site

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- A third person died Friday from an explosion at a rocket test pad operated by a private company in California's southern Mojave Desert, according to the nursing supervisor at Kern Medical Center in Bakersfield.

The explosion, which occurred Thursday at the Mojave Air and Space Port near Mojave, Calif., initially killed two people and critically injured four others.

On Friday three people remained hospitalized -- two in critical, one in serious condition. The six were employed by Scaled Composites, an aerospace development company founded 25 years ago by Burt Rutan, the aerospace engineer who designed the first plane to fly non-stop around the world without refueling.(Posted 3:10 a.m.)

NTSB blames pilots' inattentiveness in Comair crash that killed 49

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pilots' failure to notice signals that they were taking off from the wrong runway at a Kentucky airport was the probable cause of an August 2006 Comair crash that killed 49 people, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

As Comair Flight 5191, headed for Atlanta, readied for takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Ky., the flight crew was instructed to take off from runway 22, which is 7,003 feet long, the NTSB said in a written statement. Instead, the flight crew prepared to take off from runway 26, which is only 3,501 feet long -- short of the distance the plane needed for a proper takeoff.

In an earlier summary of its investigation, the NTSB had noted that the longer runway has lights, while the shorter one has no lights and was not approved for nighttime use. It was still dark when the plane attempted to take off at 6:07 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2006.

The plane, a Bombardier CRJ-100, accelerated to about 137 knots, then ran off the end of the runway, went through a fence and crashed into trees on an adjacent horse farm. (Posted 8:21 p.m.) E-mail to a friend