Wednesday News

• Russia calls for end to assault on Georgia

  Declaring that "the aggressor has been punished," the Kremlin ordered a halt yesterday to Russia's devastating assault on Georgia - five days of air and ground attacks that left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people.

• Outcast set off group's odyssey

  Tiffany Smith, unemployed and seeking help, said she joined 1Mind Ministries on promises of free food and lodging. She became a caretaker - cooking and cleaning for the group, which at its peak numbered 12, including five children, packed inside an East Baltimore rowhouse.

• Swimming in world records

  Anyone tuning in to watch swimming for the first time in several years can't help but be a little suspicious this week.

• Phelps wins 2 more golds

  He was breathing hard. His muscles were screaming. His goggles were full of water and he couldn't see the walls. Michael Phelps was exhausted, and one of his competitors was closing fast. In the stands, his coach looked worried.

• Philippine peace talks in danger of collapse

  Efforts to revive a landmark peace deal could collapse if renewed fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels spreads in the southern Philippines, the guerrillas warned yesterday.

• Lennon's killer is denied parole

  ALBANY, N.Y. John Lennon's killer was denied parole for a fifth time yesterday by a board that said he remains a threat to the public. Mark David Chapman will remain in New York's Attica Correctional Facility for at least two more years for gunning down the former Beatle nearly three decades ago on a Manhattan sidewalk. Chapman, 53, has been in prison for 27 years since pleading guilty to the murder, which he has said he committed to gain attention. He became eligible for parole in 2000 after serving 20 years of a maximum life sentence. In a one-page decision issued after Chapman's appearance yesterday, parole board members said they denied his parole "due to concern for the public safety and welfare."

• Mugabe claims deal on power

  HARARE, Zimbabwe A third day of talks over Zimbabwe's governance wound up on a conflicting note yesterday amid reports that President Robert Mugabe and the leader of an opposition faction had reached a power-sharing agreement. Shortly after the talks concluded, officials from Mugabe's party and the main opposition movement said the two sides had agreed on the plan, but a spokesman for the splinter group later denied the claim. The reported agreement excludes Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the main Movement for Democratic Change. He won the first round of presidential elections in March but boycotted the runoff to protest widespread violence against opposition supporters.

• Study examines veterans' drinking

  CHICAGO National Guard and Reserve combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems than active-duty soldiers, a new military study suggests. The authors speculate that inadequate preparation for the stress of combat and reduced access to support services at home may be to blame. The study, appearing in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first to compare Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' alcohol problems before and after deployment. New patterns of regular heavy drinking and alcohol problems, such as missing work because of drinking, occurred more often in Guard and reserve troops who experienced combat. Their risk of developing new drinking problems, compared with guardsmen and reservists who weren't deployed, was about 60 percent higher.

• Ex-student admits attempted murder

  HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. A former student accused of plowing his sport utility vehicle into a campus crowd, hitting nine people, in a self-professed bid to avenge Muslim deaths overseas pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree attempted murder. Mohammed Taheri-Azar, 25, was charged with nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of felonious assault in connection with the March 3, 2006, attack at a popular outdoor gathering spot at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As part of the plea deal, the assault charges were dismissed. The remaining charges will be consolidated into two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

• Detroit mayor wins 1 battle

  DETROIT Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's third trip to court in a week turned into a victory yesterday when a judge threw out prosecutors' claim that a visit with his sister violated the terms of his bail in an assault case. Judge Ronald Giles agreed with the mayor's attorneys that a no-contact order didn't include Ayanna Kilpatrick, who is listed as a witness in the assault case. After the hearing, defense attorney Dan Webb denounced the prosecution claim as "truly ridiculous."

• Court rules against Md. woman

  Prosecutors can use evidence of a decades-long series of frauds in their case against a Maryland woman accused of swindling and murdering a widower, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

• Alcohol abuse in combat varies

  National Guard and reserve combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to develop drinking problems than active-duty soldiers, a new military study suggests.

• Correction

  An article in yesterday's Maryland section incorrectly referred to a proposed natural gas pipeline as a LNG pipeline. Under the plan, a terminal would be built in Sparrows Point to receive tankers carrying liquefied natural gas, but the liquid would be returned to its gaseous state before being pumped through a proposed pipeline to Pennsylvania.

• Violence surges in China's far west

  Attackers jumped from a vehicle and slashed at civilian guards at a roadside checkpoint in China's far west yesterday, killing three and extending a surge of violence that has accompanied the Olympic Games in Beijing.

• U.S. fuel tanks may be fouling water

  The government owns hundreds of underground fuel tanks - many designed for emergencies during the Cold War - that need to be inspected for leaks of hazardous substances that could be making local water undrinkable.

• No prosecutions in political hiring

  No criminal prosecutions are planned against former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said yesterday.

• 'Open war' in Pakistan

  The Pakistani Taliban declared "open war" yesterday in response to military offensives in the northwest, saying it staged a bombing that destroyed an air force truck and killed up to 14 people, including a child.

• Gem trade goes on, ban or not

  Thousands of sapphires, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, jade and other gems glitter in long glass display cases as merchants haggle with professional buyers - most of them foreigners - and tourists.