State
Local army reservists to come home this week
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - The remaining 105 members of a U.S. Army Reserves unit based here are headed home from Iraq this week.
Sandra Bramble, family readiness coordinator for the 647th Area Support Group for the Army Reserve in El Paso, said members of the 281st Transportation Company are scheduled to leave Kuwait late tonight.
The soldiers will arrive at Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss before dawn Tuesday.
National
RIAA cautions more lawsuits are looming
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The record industry's trade group has warned 204 people suspected of illegally swapping music over the Internet that it plans to file lawsuits against them.
The Recording Industry Association of America started mailing sternly worded warnings last week. Unlike last month's crackdown against 261 alleged song sharers, the targets are being notified before lawsuits are filed.
The letters give the recipients 10 days to contact the RIAA to discuss a settlement and avoid a formal lawsuit. The RIAA declined to identify the individuals, but said they were sharing an average of more than 1,000 songs on their computers.
International
Bush tries to neutralize North Korean situation
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - President Bush said for the first time Sunday that the United States, China and other nations may try to defuse a crisis with North Korea by offering Pyongyang written security assurances in exchange for a commitment to scrap its nuclear weapons program. Bush rejected North Korea's demand for a formal no-invasion treaty, saying, "That's off the table." But he left the door open for a security pledge - agreed to by several countries - that would fall short of an actual treaty.
Leader asks old Iraqi army to aid Americans
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Deadly ambush teams struck U.S. Army targets from west to north in the arc of resistance around Baghdad, and the interim Iraqi leader called Sunday for an immediate mobilization of the old Iraqi army to help the harried Americans. The United States would "speed the process of relieving the burden on its troops" by recalling the disbanded Iraqi military, said Iyad Allawi, current president of the Iraqi Governing Council. The idea got a cool reception, however, from Baghdad's U.S.-led occupation authorities.
Britain's Blair treated for heart palpitations
LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been under increasing political pressure because of the war in Iraq, was hospitalized Sunday with heart palpitations, his office said. Doctors restored Blair's normal heartbeat with electrical stimulation and he was resting at home. Blair, 50, was taken to London's Hammersmith hospital, treated and released after five hours, his office said. The prime minister was feeling "fine" after returning home, his office at No. 10 Downing Street said in a statement.
Mother Teresa honored; pope unable to lead mass
VATICAN CITY (AP) - More than a quarter-million people - rich and poor, royal and regular - flooded St. Peter's Square on Sunday for the beatification of Mother Teresa, honoring the nun who built shelters, orphanages and clinics around the world to care for those forsaken by everyone else.
Pope John Paul II presided over the open-air Mass but, for the first time in a major Vatican ceremony, was unable to utter a word of his homily, leaving other prelates to do so.
In the few prayers he did say, his words were so slurred and shaky they could barely be understood.
