DEATHS IN THE NEWS

Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., 84, a three-term Baltimore mayor who was"Tommy" to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman and JohnF. Kennedy, died Aug. 23. Mr. D'Alesandro, a Democrat who also was acity councilman and five-term congressman, was mayor from 1947 to1959. He presided over a period of vast physical improvements inBaltimore. An airport was opened outside the city during his tenureand the Baltimore Orioles returned to baseball's major leagues. In1958, he won voter approval for the financing of the Charles Centerurban renewal project, starting the rejuvenation that would remakemuch of the heart of Baltimore.

Richard Pollack, 41, a free-lance writer and drama …

13 Said Killed As U.S. Stages Iraq Raid

BAGHDAD - Backed by air power, U.S. forces targeting militants believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of two coalition soldiers raided the main Shiite district in Baghdad on Sunday.

Iraqi officials said at least 13 people were killed and dozens were wounded.

The U.S. military said troops staged early morning operations in Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia that is loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Iraqi police and hospital officials said helicopters and jet fighters bombed buildings during the 5 a.m. raid in the sprawling district and at least 13 people died, including a woman and three children, and 52 were wounded.

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Russian aviation agency tells news agencies 15 …

Russian aviation agency tells news agencies 15 …

Israeli-PLO Talks Resume After Bombing

JERUSALEM True to his word, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabinon Tuesday let peace talks with the Palestinians resume, as the lastidentified Israeli killed in Monday's bus bombing here was laid torest.

Dozens of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Eilat,where they are trying to finish an agreement that will extendPalestinian self-rule throughout the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Thetalks were suspended Monday after five people were killed and morethan 100 wounded when a bomb exploded on a crowded bus in the morningrush hour.

The talks are supposed to produce an accord on an Israeli armyredeployment out of parts of the West Bank populated mostly …

Syrian armed forces says 6 elite military pilots killed in ambush in restive province

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian armed forces says 6 elite …

Myanmar concedes to access ahead of donor meeting

The U.N. secretary-general flew to Myanmar on Sunday to steer a 50-nation conference that will pledge funds for survivors of Cyclone Nargis after the country's military junta promised to open its doors to critically needed foreign help.

Three weeks after the cyclone struck, frustrated foreign aid workers were ratcheting up preparations to finally go into the Irrawaddy delta with food, drinking water, medicine and other relief.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who had wrested the open door agreement from the ruling generals, was flying early Sunday to Yangon from Bangkok, Thailand, to attend the conference of some 50 countries along with U.N. and …

Erring 'on side of life' opens whole new can of worms At what point are we forced to live within the law even if we disagree morally with some of its outcomes?

Those who favored Congress' intervention in the Terri Schiavo caseused a two-tiered argument to justify their support.

The first tier was strictly legal: a variety of factors, includingconcerns over Michael Schiavo's fitness as a guardian as well asquestions about whether Schiavo was properly diagnosed as being in a"persistent vegetative state," gave Congress the right to mandatethat all the evidence in the case be given a fresh look (known as denovo) at the federal level.

The second tier of the argument -- which represented the broaderissue propelling the first -- was strictly moral: Our society shouldplace an exceptionally high value on innocent human life and …