LYNDON, Kansas (AP) — A jury has recommended that a Kansas man be sentenced to death for killing four family members in November 2009.
The jury returned its recommendation Monday after hearing more testimony about 48-year-old James Kraig Kahler and his state of mind at the time of the fatal shootings. The judge set sentencing for Oct. 11.
Kahler was convicted Friday of four counts of capital murder …
Bayern Munich has extended the contract of midfielder Hamit Altintop for another season.
The Bundesliga champion says Altintop …
Tonight
Partly cloudy. Cooler with lows in the upper 40s.
Saturday
Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 60s.
Sunday
Partly cloudy. …
The Senate approved a $286 billion (197.12 billion) farm bill on Friday with an election-year expansion of subsidies for growers and for food stamps for the poor.
The bill, passed on a 79-14 vote, expands subsidies for wheat, barley, oat, soybeans and several other crops and creates new grants for growers of vegetables and fruit.
In recent years such subsidies have caused serious friction in trade negotiations with Europe under the World Trade Organization's so-called Doha Round to produce a global trade arrangement. Talks that began in 2001 have foundered on the refusal of both the European Union and the United States to eliminate subsidies.
It …
A chemical explosion in eastern China killed 18 people and injured 10 others on Wednesday, state media reported.
The blast occurred about 4 p.m. local time (0800 GMT) as workers unloaded chemicals from a truck in Lanshan district in Linyi city in Shandong province. It was not known what chemicals …
WASHINGTON A cache of 3,000 letters, newspaper clippings, 19thcentury playbills and playbooks, photographs of 19th century actorsand other papers of John Thompson Ford - the owner of Ford's Theatrewhen Abraham Lincoln was assassinated - has been donated to theLibrary of Congress.
The collection was hidden away in an old Ford family trunk inCaldwell, Idaho.
The papers give a glimpse of the figures in the assassination -still a major preoccupation of Civil War historians - as well as aclose-up view of theatrical life in the mid-19th century.
John Ford Sollers, himself a drama professor, donated thepapers, which he inherited from his aunt Lizzie Ford, the …
BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy underwent surgery Friday after doctors discovered a partially blocked artery in his neck during an examination of his back, which was injured in a 1964 airplane crash.
Kennedy, 75, underwent the hourlong procedure on his left carotid artery at Massachusetts General Hospital, his office announced. The operation, performed by Dr. Richard Cambria, the hospital's chief of vascular surgery, was completed without complications, and the Massachusetts Democrat was expected to be released in several days.
"As part of a routine evaluation of Senator Kennedy's back and …
Charitable giving by Americans fell by 2 percent in 2008 as the recession took root, only the second year-to-year decline in more than a half-century, according to an authoritative annual survey released Wednesday.
Particularly hard hit were social-service charities, which suffered a 12.7 percent drop in donations at a time when most of them were reporting increased demand for their services.
The last previous overall drop in giving was in 1987, the year of the record-shattering Black Monday stock market collapse.
The Giving USA Foundation, which has conducted the survey since 1956, expressed relief that the 2008 decrease was not worse, given that …
Kudos to Dayton Hudson Corp. for its role in an important childcare initiative unveiled Wednesday. The parent of Marshall Field'sand Target stores is contributing $500,000 for a public/privateeffort designed to help boost the supply of family-based child careoperators in the Chicago area.
The current supply of family-based, licensed child care in theChicago area totals 109,000 spaces, even though demand is …
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Agriculture Department has delayed a decision on a new catfish inspection program that threatens to derail U.S. trade relations with Vietnam.
The agency released a proposed rule Friday seeking more comment on the key question of whether Asian catfish will be subject to a new inspection regime that Congress passed in 2008 and that Asian producers say could kill their export business to the …
Royal Liverpool will host the 2014 British Open, the 12th time it has staged golf's oldest major.
Tiger Woods won the tournament the last time it was played on the links course at Hoylake on the northwest English coast in 2006, becoming the first back-to-back winner since …
SPRINGFIELD Illinois riverboats raked in nearly $100 million inMarch - an all-time high that pro-gambling forces may use to bolsterarguments to expand gambling into Chicago.
The $99.7 million that gamblers lost in March shattered theprevious record of $92 million in October, Illinois Gaming Boardofficials said.
The numbers' release Thursday …
Democrats controlling the House plan to pass legislation this week funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year.
The plan would give anti-war lawmakers a vote on nonbinding language setting the goal of withdrawing most combat troops by December 2009, said a senior House Democratic aide, though Senate Republicans have the votes to filibuster the move.
The $178 billion (euro115.14 billion) -plus measure will also carry legislation costing $16 billion (euro10.35 billion) over two years to extend by up to six months unemployment insurance coverage for jobless people whose benefits have run out. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan would begin to receive a big boost in college aid.
Barring any unexpected developments, it would be the last war funding bill passed during President George W. Bush's tenure in office. It would bring the amount approved by Congress since Sept. 11, 2001, to fight terrorism and conduct the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to about $875 billion (euro565.98 billion).
Bush has vowed to veto any funding bill exceeding his request, but Democrats are calculating that he will be hard-pressed to kill the measure because it offers help for returning soldiers and the long-term unemployed. Or if he does veto the bill, Republicans would face politically risky votes to sustain his veto.
Democrats have left out billions of dollars in requests from rank-and-file lawmakers for roads, bridges and other party priorities, such as heating subsidies for the poor, a summer jobs program and increases in food stamp benefits.
"They're trying to keep this from becoming a Christmas tree," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a California Democrat.
The measure grants Bush's request for $770 million (euro498.06 million) in additional overseas food aid for the 2009 budget, but it adds $650 million (euro420.44 million) for the 2008 budget year ending Sept. 30, almost tripling the amount Bush had sought.
It also provides money to address problems with the Census and combat summer wildfires. It provides more than $5 billion (euro3.23 billion), as requested by Bush, to build flood protection levees around New Orleans.
The legislation is slated to advance in an unusual process in which it is broken into three separate pieces for votes in the House and Senate: war funding, anti-war policy provisions and domestic funding.
The idea is to allow anti-war Democrats to vote against the war funding _ which Republicans will provide the votes to pass _ while still ensuring the money goes out to support troops overseas. Democrats get to vote for restrictions on sending ill-trained troops to Iraq and banning practices they say are torture, but the provisions would never make it through the Senate to face a veto.
The popular veterans education provision would cost $720 million (euro465.72 million) over 2008-09 and would then theoretically expire. That minimizes the apparent cost, but the program is expected to easily be renewed, with future years costing far more. Details are lacking, but the legislation is based on a plan by Sen. James Webb, a Virginia Democrat, costing up to $4 billion (euro2.59 billion) a year to roughly double college aid for veterans to about $12,000 (euro7,762) per year.
The unemployment insurance provisions would give 13 more weeks of unemployment checks to people whose benefits have run out and 13 weeks beyond that in states with especially high unemployment rates.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hopes to schedule a vote this week. She first must sell the plan to anti-war Democrats at a closed-door meeting Tuesday.
| Men's Semifinals |
|---|
| Saturday |
| No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 3 Roger Federer |
| Federer leads 14-9 |
2006 Monte-Carlo Masters, clay-outdoor, R64, Federer, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
2006 Davis Cup, hard-indoor, RR, Federer, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
2007 Australian Open, hard-outdoor, R16, Federer, 6-2, 7-5, 6-3.
2007 Dubai, hard-outdoor, QF, Federer, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3.
2007 Montreal Masters, hard-outdoor, F, Djokovic, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (2).
2007 U.S. Open, hard-outdoor, F, Federer, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4.
2008 Australian Open, hard-outdoor, SF, Djokovic, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
2008 Monte-Carlo Masters, SF, clay-outdoor, Federer, 6-3, 3-2, retired.
2008 U.S. Open, hard-outdoor, SF, Federer, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
2009 Miami Masters, hard-outdoor, SF, Djokovic, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
2009 Rome Masters, clay-outdoor, SF, Djokovic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
2009 Cincinnati Masters, hard-outdoor, F, Federer, 6-1, 7-5.
2009 U.S. Open, hard-outdoor, SF, Federer, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 7-5.
2009 Basel, hard-indoor, F, Djokovic, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
2010 Toronto Masters, hard-outdoor, SF, Federer, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.
2010 U.S. Open, hard-outdoor, SF, Djokovic, 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5.
2010 Shanghai Masters, hard-outdoor, SF, Federer, 7-5, 6-4.
2010 Basel, hard-indoor, F, Federer, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
2010 ATP Finals-London, hard-indoor, SF, Federer, 6-1, 6-4.
2011 Australian Open, hard-outdoor, SF, Djokovic, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-4.
2011 Dubai, hard-outdoor, F, Djokovic, 6-3, 6-3.
2011 Indian Wells Masters, hard-outdoor, SF, Djokovic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
2011 French Open, clay-outdoor, SF, Federer, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5).
| No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 4 Andy Murray |
|---|
| Nadal leads 12-4 |
2007 Australian Open, hard-outdoor, R16, Nadal, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
2007 Madrid Masters, hard-indoor, R16, Nadal, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
2008 Hamburg Masters, clay-outdoor, R16, Nadal, 6-3, 6-2.
2008 Wimbledon, grass-outdoor, QF, Nadal, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
2008 Toronto Masters, hard-outdoor, SF, Nadal, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
2008 U.S. Open, hard-outdoor, SF, Murray, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4.
2009 Rotterdam, hard-indoor, F, Murray, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
2009 Indian Wells Masters, hard-outdoor, F, Nadal, 6-1, 6-2.
2009 Monte-Carlo Masters, clay-outdoor, SF, Nadal, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
2010 Australian Open, hard-outdoor, QF, Murray, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 3-0, retired.
2010 Wimbledon, grass-outdoor, SF, Nadal, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4.
2010 Toronto Masters, hard-outdoor, SF, Murray, 6-3, 6-4.
2010 ATP Finals-London, SF, hard-indoor, Nadal, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (6).
2011 Monte-Carlo Masters, SF, clay-outdoor, Nadal, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
2011 French Open, clay-outdoor, SF, Nadal, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
2011 Wimbledon, grass-outdoor, SF, Nadal, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.
| Women's Semifinals |
|---|
| Saturday |
| No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki vs. No. 28 Serena Williams |
| Williams leads 2-0 |
2009 Sydney, hard-outdoor, QF, Williams, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (3).
2009 Tour Championships, hard-outdoor, SF, Williams, 6-4, 0-1, retired.
| No. 9 Sam Stosur vs. Angelique Kerber |
|---|
First meeting
Alicia Dibos sank a sand shot for birdie on the 18th hole to graba one-stroke lead over six players after two rounds of the inauguralChildren's Medical Center LPGA Classic in Beavercreek, Ohio.
Dibos' ascent to the lead was aided by Rosie Jones'quadruple-bogey on the par-3 13th hole. Jones held a two-stroke leadgoing to the 13th before taking a 7 on the hole. She put 6-iron teeshots into the lake in front of the green twice.
Dibos bogeyed four of the first nine holes before getting backon track with a string of birdies on the 12th, 13th and 14th. Herbirdie on the 18th completed a round of even-par 72 and left her witha two-day total of 5-under 139.
In the logjam at 4-under are first-round leader Janice Gibson,Shelley Hamlin, Jill Briles-Hinton, Barb Thomas, Maggie Will and BethDaniel. Jones, Cindy Rarick and Michele Redman are two shots off thepace.
British Women's Open: Liselotte Neumann shot a 3-under-par 70 topad her lead after three rounds of the tournament in Woburn, England.Neumann's three-day score of 11-under 208 gives her a three-shot edgeover Cindy Figg-Currier, who finished with a round of 5-under 68.Neumann started the day with a one-stroke lead over Dottie Mochrie,who faded with a 1-over 74.
Seniors: Rain washed out the second round of the First ofAmerica Classic in Ada, Mich., and tournament organizers opted toreduce the event to 36 holes. That means Jim Albus, Jimmy Powell,Isao Aoki and Graham Marsh will take a one-stroke lead over threeothers into the final round of the tourney today. SCORES, PAGE 31
Fiji's military ruler postponed elections promised for March 2009 to return the island to democracy after ousting the government in a bloodless coup 20 months ago, a news report said Friday.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama told the Fijivillage news Web site in an exclusive interview that the March 2009 timetable for elections was unachievable because much-needed electoral reforms cannot be completed and implemented over the next eight months.
"There is no date set for an election," Bainimarama told the news site.
Calls seeking comment from Fiji government officials were not answered late Friday.
Bainimarama has said he aims to root out corruption and reshape the South Pacific nation's race-based political system before holding a vote.
The self-appointed prime minister seized power in a coup d'etat in December 2006 _ the fourth coup in the Pacific island nation in the last 21 years.
Bainimarama pledged elections by March 2009 at a Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tonga last August. He said he gave the date because Tongan Prime Minister Fred Sevele told him the international community would be flexible if more time was needed, the Fijivillage report said.
"I came up with March 2009 at the forum on the understanding if there needs to be an extension in time the international community will be very flexible," Bainimarama was quoted as saying. "Unfortunately for me that date was added in and written in blood by everyone in the international community."
He said his government's initial plan was to hold elections in 2010.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Australian counterpart Stephen Smith and four South Pacific foreign ministers met Bainimarama in the capital Suva this week amid concerns he would renege on his election date promise.
Peters and Smith said at the end of their visit Wednesday there were no impediments in the way of March elections, except for the "political will" of Bainimarama.
"How can you have reform if you haven't got a vehicle to put it into law _ a mandated Parliament," Peters said.
Under Fiji's 1997 Constitution, indigenous Fijians, ethnic Indians and other races vote in separate race-based constituencies. Bainimarama has said this system must change before Fiji can hold a free and fair election.
Fiji's population is split between the indigenous Fijian majority and ethnic Indians, introduced by former colonial power Britain in the 19th century to work on sugar cane plantations.
The interim government has said a national charter is being drafted as a set of principles to end corruption, weed out the use of racist policies to win popular support, and ensure greater social cohesion between the racial groups that make up Fiji.
Bainimarama has stressed the military will be the watchdog of the charter, and any government elected by the people will have to abide by it.
Opponents of the charter say it may be used to usurp the nation's 1997 Constitution.
___
On the 'Net:
YANGON, Myanmar - Hundreds of defiant monks marched through Yangon on Tuesday, walking 10 miles through streets lined with cheering crowds, after being barred from Myanmar's most important Buddhist temple, witnesses said.
The marches were the latest in a series of anti-government protests, which began Aug. 19 after authorities raised fuel prices by as much as 500 percent, putting the squeeze on already impoverished citizens. The protests have continued despite the detention of more than 100 demonstrators and the rough treatment of others.
At least 400 saffron-robed monks, walking in rows of two and three and cheered on by thousands of onlookers offering water, were locked out of Yangon's famous Shwedagon pagoda and then both the Sule and Botataung pagodas. After pro-junta toughs and plainclothes police intervened, the monks sat in the street and chanted before returning to monasteries.
Some senior monks - generally seen as more conservative - also asked the group of mostly young monks to end their march. The two groups argued but finally the procession continued.
Meanwhile, in the city of Bago about 50 miles away, another 1,000 monks peacefully marched to the Shwemawdaw pagoda, residents said. Witnesses in both cities spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Soldiers and armed police were deployed near some major monasteries with truckloads of barbed wire barricades waiting nearby.
Supporters of the country's junta government snatched video and still cameras from some journalists and attempted to seize one journalist and force him into a truck, witnesses said.
No one was arrested in Tuesday's marches, and both ended peacefully.
The monks gave authorities a Monday deadline to apologize for beating hundreds of them two weeks ago when they marched peacefully in Pakokku, a center of Buddhist learning, to protest the rising fuel and consumer prices. The apology never came.
"We are grateful to the monks for making good on their promise despite heavy security presence and obstacles," said a man who followed the monks throughout the march. He refused to give his name for fear of reprisal.
In addition to the protests, monks threatened to cut off contact with the military and their families, and to refuse alms from them - a humiliating gesture that would embarrass the junta.
Monks have been at the forefront of political protests in Myanmar, also known as Burma, since British colonial times. Because they are so revered by the public, repressing them is politically risky. The junta is wary that demonstrations could gain momentum.
Tuesday's marches also marked the 19th anniversary of the coup in Myanmar, in which the current junta took over after crushing a failed pro-democracy rebellion that sought an end to military rule, imposed since 1962. The anniversary was also commemorated by protesters in the Philippines, India and New Zealand.
The junta held general elections in 1990, but refused to honor the results when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won. Suu Kyi has been detained under house arrest for more than 11 years.
Kenya's rival politicians remain divided over the details of forming a government together to end the postelection crisis, government negotiators said Sunday.
The officials said local media reports that the two sides had gotten as far as divvying up ministries were wrong.
Government negotiator Martha Karua said the only items that had been decided on so far were the creation of a prime minister's post and its responsibility for coordinating government ministries, and the termination of the coalition if parliament is dissolved.
"All other issues are under negotiation, to which end various proposals by the parties are on the table for discussion," Karua told reporters.
Opposition spokesman Tony Gachoka declined to comment on the statement, saying it did not present any new information.
Kenya's peace talks have been volleying between a deal and collapse for more than a week now as the country's politicians struggle to find a compromise to move on from a flawed election that sparked widespread fighting between supporters of the president and his rival from a western ethnic group.
In the latest sign that violence has not completely subsided, police said eight houses were burned in a village near the western town of Molo on Sunday in an apparent clash between Kalenjin and Kikuyu ethnic groups.
Two people _ a father and son _ were taken to a hospital with injuries, a local police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not an authorized spokesman.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga charges that he was the rightful winner of the Dec. 27 presidential vote, which international and local election monitors have said was manipulated. President Mwai Kibaki maintains that he legitimately won another term.
The ensuing violence, which has killed more than 1,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, has pushed the two sides to agree to form some sort of power-sharing government.
But working out the details of the coalition government has been the problem. Among some of the unresolved issues is whether the constitution will be amended to accommodate the changes to the government.
Both sides have accused the other of stonewalling as talks drag on.
Opposition leaders "are the ones who have been stuck in the same place like a broken record," government negotiator Mutula Kilonzo said Sunday. Odinga's supporters have levied similar charges against Kibaki's party, even threatening mass protests if concrete progress is not made by the end of the day Wednesday.
Both sides have said they hope for a deal early this week. Karua said the government decided it needed to clarify the details of the negotiations because local papers had gone too far in speculating about the extent of the agreements.
In one of the first attempts to analyze the weeks of violence that followed the disputed vote, a Kenyan human rights group laid a large part of the responsibility for the carnage on police, which were confirmed to have shot into crowds in various areas in attempts to regain control.
The Independent Medico-Legal Unit, which conducted 80 post-mortems on the bodies of people killed in Kisumu, Western Province, Rift Valley and Nairobi, said family members blamed police for the deaths of nearly 30 percent of them. The group said mobs were blamed for about 9 percent of the deaths, while more than 60 percent died without anyone knowing how they were killed.
The group said the majority of deaths in Kisumu and Western Province were from gunshot wounds, while more of those from other areas died from injuries caused by crude weapons.
___
Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt and Beatrice Obwocha contributed to this report.
Chile players say the team has prepared to play Honduras without key striker Humberto Suazo if he doesn't recover from an injury in time for the World Cup match.
Suazo has been troubled by a left thigh injury, but looks set to be available for Wednesday's opener against Honduras in Group H.
Defender Gonzalo Jara says the team "is able to play in a different way if necessary" while striker Matias Fernandez says he hopes he can play alongside Suazo because "he's an important player."
