President Bush attacked critics of the war in Iraq on Friday, accusing them of trying to rewrite history and saying they are undercutting American forces on the front lines. Defending the march to war, Bush said that foreign intelligence services and Democrats and Republicans alike were convinced at the time that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had unconventional weapons.
French President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency Tuesday, paving the way for curfews to be imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in an extraordinary measure to halt France's worst civil unrest in decades. The state-of-emergency decree allows curfews where needed. The curfews seemed to be working, as violence fell off sharply Thursday and Friday. Angry residents of riot-torn suburbs staged a sit-in Friday near the Eiffel Tower, calling for an end to arson and vandalism across France. The violence erupted on Oct. 27.
Terrorist bombs ripped nearly simultaneously through three popular hotels in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Wednesday night, killing at least 57 people and wounding more than 115. On Thursday Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed credit for the suicide bombings and on Friday said that four Iraqis, including a husband and wife, carried out the attacks. Thousands of angry Jordanians rallied in Amman Thursday and Friday, shouting for al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to "burn in hell."
Police arrested 17 terror suspects in Australia's two biggest cities Tuesday in raids authorities said foiled a plot to carry out a catastrophic terror attack. A radical Muslim cleric known for praising Osama bin Laden was charged with masterminding the plot. More than 500 police backed up by helicopters were involved in raids across Sydney and Melbourne, arresting eight men in Sydney and nine in Melbourne and seizing chemicals, weapons, computers and backpacks.
The death toll reached 22 in Indiana Monday in the aftermath of a tornado that hit southern Indiana and northerm Kentucky. The tornado, the deadliest to hit Indiana since 1974, struck a horse racing track near Henderson, Ky., then crossed into Indiana, triggering emergency sirens that many people fast asleep did not hear. At least 18 people, including three children, died at a mobile home park in Indiana's Vanderburgh County and five others died in neighboring Warrick County, east of Evansville.
A 15-year-old student shot and killed an assistant vice principal and critically wounded two other administrators Tuesday at a high school in Jacksboro, Tenn., authorities said. Campbell County spokesman Larry Skeen said the principal, Gary Seale, and two assistant principals, Ken Bruce and Jim Pierce, immediately closed in to try to get the gun from the student. A scuffle ensued and Bruce was fatally shot. Seale and Pierce were flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville for treatment.
Critics of evolution won a big victory in Kansas Tuesday with the adoption of public school standards that defy mainstream views on mankind's origins. The standards, approved 6-4 by the state Board of Education, cast doubt on Darwinian evolution and redefine the word "science" so that it's not limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena. Intelligent design advocates helped draft the standards.
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