LOS ANGELES – Scientists have processed more than a dozen new photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which arrived at the Red Planet last month, including its first color image. The crisp test images released Friday revealed pocked craters, carved gullies and wind-formed dunes in Mars‘ southern hemisphere. The …
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PEORIA, Ill. – Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) posted its strongest quarter ever Thursday, yielding record annual profits and revenues that the leading heavy equipment maker says will continue to rise in 2006. Peoria-based Caterpillar reported fourth-quarter earnings surged 54 percent to $846 million, up from $551 million during the same period …
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TIWANAKU, Bolivia – Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales, dressed in a bright red tunic worn only by the most important pre-Inca priests, promised to do away with vestiges of his country’s colonial past Saturday in a spiritual ceremony at an ancient temple on the eve of his inauguration. To roars from …
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VITERBO, Italy – An Italian judge heard arguments Friday on whether a small-town parish priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed. The priest’s atheist accuser, Luigi Cascioli, says the Roman Catholic Church has been deceiving people for 2,000 years with a fable that Christ existed, and that …
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SAN FRANCISCO – After years of silence, the father of American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh called on President Bush on Thursday to grant clemency to his son, who he says was wrongly maligned as a traitor and murderer. “In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and …
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LOS ANGELES – After conquering the world of music, Alicia Keys is expanding into movie and television production. Keys, 24, and her longtime manager, Jeff Robinson, said Thursday they have formed a company whose first project will be a UPN TV series inspired by Keys’ experiences as a biracial youngster …
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WASHINGTON – Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a “thin green line” that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon. Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the …
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An anti-terrorism law creating a national standard for all driver’s licenses by 2008 isn’t just upsetting civil libertarians and immigration rights activists. State motor vehicle officials nationwide who will have to carry out the Real ID Act say its authors grossly underestimated its logistical, technological and financial demands. In a …
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MALIBU, Calif. – Nick Nolte has successfully completed probation ordered after his 2002 no contest plea to a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of drugs, a judge ruled Wednesday. Nolte was present at the hearing before Judge Lawrence Mira. “I’m about to do ‘Pride and Glory,’ a film …
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian authorities Thursday released a militant held in connection with the kidnapping of a British family in Gaza, a day after his followers went on a rampage and smashed holes in a wall along the Egypt border. The Gaza-Egypt border crossing was calm, a day …
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