Author Archives: Knight Ridder Newspapers
UAB blazes into limelight
He wins with the guys nobody else wanted, and he gets some guys everyone else coveted. And that combination has proved to be potently successful for Mike Anderson.
Only two years into his tenure as the basketball coach at Alabama-Birmingham, Anderson has propelled his Blazers into the limelight and taught them how to steal the show.
FBI blames al-Qaida for bombings
WASHINGTON – FBI Director Robert Mueller said Tuesday that he believes radical Islamic fundamentalists supportive of al-Qaida and influenced by Osama bin Laden were responsible for the deadly train bombings in Madrid.
Officials testify before Sept. 11 panel
WASHINGTON – As Osama bin Laden stepped up his campaign of terror in the late 1990s, the Clinton administration had reports of his whereabouts but didn’t attack on at least three occasions because it was concerned about the reliability of the intelligence on his location, an independent panel reported Tuesday.
Kirkuk ‘flash point’ in Iraqi reconstruction
KIRKUK, Iraq – The grousing of a young member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front over prices at a Kurd-owned grocery last week nearly triggered an ethnically charged street fight on Kirkuk’s main drag.
The shopkeeper snapped back with an ethnic slur, and the Turkmen Front member retreated across the street to ITF headquarters to retrieve his Kalashnikov, according to Iraqi police and witnesses.
Pentagon report: Halliburton violated contract rules
WASHINGTON – Halliburton, the big contractor that’s won the lion’s share of government contracts to rebuild Iraq, significantly and systematically violated federal contracting rules by providing inaccurate and incomplete information about its own costs, according to a special report by Defense Department auditors.
Palestinians concerned about anarchy in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Many Palestinians here are brooding about the prospect of a sudden Israeli withdrawal, even though they have fought for the removal of Jewish settlers and soldiers for years.
Armed militant organizations such as Hamas built their empires on resistance to Israel, attracting legions of youths willing to die in often-futile attacks aimed at forcing Israelis out of the Gaza Strip, which Israel seized from Egypt in 1967.
Haiti calls for broader U.S. role
NEW YORK – With violence still simmering and U.S. Marines reporting their second kill, the man picked on Tuesday to be Haiti’s new prime minister urged a broader role for American forces in bringing peace to his nation.
Kerry, Democrats take fight to Bush
Sen. John Kerry is moving quickly to close ranks within his party with overwhelming wins Tuesday in Florida and three other states, focusing on the brutal contest he faces with President Bush.
Virginia jury sentences sniper to death
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad got the ultimate punishment Tuesday, as recommended by a Virginia Beach jury: death. Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. said he could not find another crime in Virginia history that compared with Muhammad’s murder rampage.
U.S. troops face stark obstacles in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Just as the morning sun finally beat the mosquitoes back – and hours before U.S. Marines would fire their first rounds in this country – Maj. Justin Rodriguez interrupted the morning briefing to lay out, in the ragged language of the Corps, a dictum for this mission.
Olympic construction continues in Athens
DETROIT – Bill Martin, acting president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, got a bird’s-eye view last week of Athens, Greece, the ancient home of the Olympics.
With the Summer Games a little more than five months away, Martin toured the Olympic facilities in a helicopter with Thomas Miller, the U.
Conflict limiting aid to Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – On a good day, Rozais Paul would be swinging a hammer on a construction site here in Haiti’s capital. His wife, Liranna Tilla, would be selling fruits and vegetables from her market stall downtown.
And between them, they’d earn enough to sit down at the end of the day with their four children in the two-room cinder-block hut they share in the mountainside neighborhood of Debrosse for a dinner of rice, beans and – maybe – a piece of fish or pork.
U.S. on wrong side in Haiti
The Bush Administration’s unwillingness to support Haiti’s elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has thwarted the course of democracy. By siding with the armed rebels, the administration helped fuel the opposition and undermine chances for a quick resolution.
Suicide bombings blamed on suspected terrorists
WASHINGTON – “There is no doubt” that suspected Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi masterminded the pair of suicide bombings in Iraq on Tuesday that killed more than 140 people during a Shiite Muslim religious observance.
Rising stars top list of potential running mates
RALEIGH, N.C. – There was no telling if John Kerry was listening to the speech delivered Wednesday by John Edwards, who conveyed his compliments and admiration before becoming the latest Democrat to fall into line behind the Massachusetts senator who now wears the title of nominee.
