Far and Wide

Abortion or communion?

That's pretty much the ultimatum Scotland's top Catholic cleric gave to lawmakers who support a decades-old law that made abortions legal.

Church members were instructed by Cardinal Keith O'Brien on Thursday to boycott politicians who did not condemn the "unspeakable crime" of abortion. Politicians who support the abortion law should not receive Holy Communion or remain full members of the church, O'Brien said during a sermon in Edinburgh to mark the 40th anniversary of the Abortion Act.

    Fast Facts:

• Abortion was legalized in England, Wales and Scotland in 1967.
• Pope Benedict XVI has said it is up to individual bishops to decide whether Catholic politicians should receive Communion if they support abortion rights.

-- Jaime Holguin

Family who controls Wall St. Journal mulls Murdoch bid

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, FILE)

Could the highly esteemed pages of The Wall Street Journal soon be controlled by the media mogul who operates the Fox News Channel, MySpace.com and Twentieth Century Fox?

Perhaps.

In a reversal, the Bancroft family that holds a controlling interest in Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. said late today that they would entertain the $5 billion bid from Rupert Murdoch to buy the company, as well as other potential offers.

Family members previously said they would block a Murdoch bid to buy the company.

The union representing Journal employees and reporters in the paper's China bureau have expressed strong opposition to Murdoch's bid.

For the latest developments, read this AP story by business writer Seth Shutel.

--Paul Chavez

Donovan leaving

(AP Photo/Bill Haber)

Florida coach Billy Donovan took his name out of the running for the Kentucky job in April, saying at the time that the University of Florida was the place for him.

Apparently, it was only short-term.

An NBA source has told AP that Donovan bolted Florida for the riches of the NBA, agreeing to a five-year deal on Thursday that will pay him $5.5 million annually to coach the Orlando Magic.

Orlando has been searching for a coach since Brian Hill was fired after consecutive losing seasons.

Donovan has been the subject of rumors since Florida won its second straight NCAA title in April, including at Kentucky, where he got his start as a coach, and with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.

Orlando was a bit closer -- about 115 miles -- and the Magic are going to pay him more than twice his $1.7 million annual salary at Florida. The Gators were likely headed toward a rebuilding season after four of its starters left school for the NBA.

Read the full AP story here.

-- John Marshall

This is your world on drugs

(AP Photo/Ermindo Armino)

Alcohol, cocaine, marijuana. It's a drugged out world we live in.

Here's a look at some of the drug-related stories moving across AP's wires:

• In Rome, researchers have found there are traces of cocaine and cannabis in the Eternal City's air. For more on Rome's "high" air quality, read this AP report out of Italy.
• The weekend arrest of troubled actress Lindsay Lohan, 20, for investigation of driving under the influence does beg the question: Who served the under-age Hollywood star alcohol? In this AP report out of Los Angeles, reporter John Rogers looks at how the California Alcohol Beverage Control Board is starting to crack down on the Hollywood club scene.
• In Culpeper, Va., police arrested two people for public intoxication after they tried to avoid drinking and driving by heading home on horseback.
• Finally, customers in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht will have to offer up their fingerprints and have their ID's scanned at coffee shops that are licensed to sell marijuana. The measures are expected to help stores show they are not selling pot to underage customers and not selling more than the maximum permitted to a customer, such as the young man shown above, on any given day. For more, read this AP story from Amsterdam by reporter Toby Sterling.

--Paul Chavez

Nessie's back

(AP Photo)

Could it be fresh footage of the supposed mythical creature living beneath Scotland's most mysterious lake?
   
Loch Ness monster watchers sure hope so.
   
Gordon Holmes, a 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, took video Saturday of, "this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water."

Marine biologist Adrian Shine, who viewed the video, called it, "the best footage I have seen." He hoped to properly analyze it in the coming months.

    Did you know:

• Loch Ness is the largest inland body of water in Britain.
• It is about 750 feet to the bottom -- that's deeper than the North Sea.
• There have been more than 4,000 purported Nessie sightings since she was first caught on camera by a surgeon on vacation in the 1930s.

Check out this AP story for more on the legend of Loch Ness.

-- Jaime Holguin

Alabama tornado survivors prepare for graduation

Nearly three months ago a tornado tore through Enterprise High School, killing eight students. This evening the senior class graduates -- with two empty folding chairs reserved for classmates who died in the storm. More on preparations for the ceremony and reactions from graduates in this AP video.

-- Caryn Rousseau

Not so funny now

(AP Photo/Lucas Jackson)

In a public service announcement two years ago, Lindsay Lohan can be heard laughing after a member of A Simple Plan warns against drunken driving. Hear it in this AP audio clip from TMZ.com.

 La Lohan does her public service

--Lisa Tolin

Picture this

Each day, AP Photos deputy director Michael Feldman, highlights some of the strongest pictures of the day at the AP global news meeting. Below are a few of the images that caught his eye on Thursday.

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Feldman said this picture stood out from several taken at a White House event because it captures the child in mid-jump. In the image, President Bush reaches out to the four-year-old son of an HIV activist from South Africa.

Paw Prints: animals in today's news

  (AP Photo/New Brunswick legislature via CP)

DEER: A deer marched itself right into the New Brunswick legislature today. (Mad about some recent hunting bill?) Whatever it was thinking, the darned thing jumped onto a desk, smashed a keyboard, raced through the offices and bounded out a window, leaving shattered glass strewn outside. Whew!

PANDAS: Less than a year after being released into the wild, poor 5-year-old Xiang Xiang died.

RHINOS: Sadly, all the news today seems to be bad. A super rare northern white rhino also died, possibly of old age. There might only be 13 left worldwide.

ENDANGERED WILDLIFE: If you tell people not to do something, they might do it more. That revalation from the journal Nature. Could be controversial.

HOGS: Good catch, kid. But how on earth did "Monster Pig" get there in the first place?

-- Hillary Rhodes

Spelling bee U-P-D-A-T-E

Five years of wanting to be a champion speller ended today for Samir Patel. The 13-year-old Texas favorite to win this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee spelled the word clevis (it refers to a type fastening device) "c-l-e-v-i-c-e."
He wiped away a tear as he talked about his loss.
"The first thing I thought was c-l-e-v-i-s, and if I had been slow and cautious like I always am, I would have got it right," he said. "But I just outsmarted myself. It was an easy word. I just made a stupid mistake."
Things went better for Andrew Lay (in this picture by AP photographer Lawrence Jackson) who was obviously surprised that he spelled his word correctly.
AP reporter Joseph White writes that as of this afternoon 33 spellers advanced to the bee's sixth round.

-- Caryn Rousseau

Taken out of context

"I'm a guy! I want to be a guy, guy! I'm the king of the guys that night."

Who's super comfortable with his masculinity? Find out after the jump.

Photo spotlight: Iraq through a lens

(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Fog of war: In this image captured by AP photographer Karim Kadim, residents of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, hoist the coffin of someone police say was the victim of a U.S. airstrike. But, the U.S. military said it had no reports of airstrikes in Sadr City today. A military statement said U.S. and Iraqi forces had arrested two "members of the secret cell terrorist network" there and didn't mention fatalities.

-- Steph Hoo

Panda dies after apparently falling in China

(AP Photo / Xinhua - Chen Xie)

Xiang Xiang, the first panda bred by humans and returned to the wild, has died in China after less than a year in the wilderness.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Xiang Xiang apparently died after falling from trees. Chinese officials said the body bore injuries inflicted by wild pandas, leading them to believe that Xiang Xiang may have died trying to escape.

Xiang Xiang is shown above receiving an anesthetic shot in April 2006 before a health checkup.

Read more about Xiang Xiang's death in this story out of Beijing by AP's Audra Ang.

--Jenni Sohn

Insider Insight: Best of political blogs

The Associated Press' overnight Washington editors scour the political blogs for interesting opinions, analysis and information. Their morning reports consist of the original headlines and text from the blogs. Click below for today's edition, compiled by Jerry Estill.

Working toward a cease fire in Iraq?

A possible cease fire in Iraq? That's the word today from the No. 2 American commander.

Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno says commanders at all levels are being empowered to reach out to militants, tribes, religious leaders and others in the country that has been gripped by violence from a range of fronts including insurgents, sectarian rivals and common criminals.

"It's just beginning, so we have a lot of work to do in this," he told pentagon reporters in a video conference from Baghdad.

The general's comments came the same days as the Pentagon reported the troop "surge" in Iraq is complete. AP National Security correspondent Sagar Meghani spoke with Brigadier General Perry Wiggins, deputy operations director, Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the buildup. Listen to a part of their conversation here.

Also today, U.S. forces backed by helicopter gunships clashed with suspected al-Qaida gunmen in western Baghdad in an engagement that lasted several hours.

Listen to audio reports from AP correspondent Steve Hurst in Baghdad for the latest information on the battle in Baghdad:

    Hurst reports the U.S. military has been fighting insurgents today in a Baghdad neighborhood.

    Hurst reports residents of the Baghdad neighborhood looked to U.S. forces to help.
   
   --Chelsea J. Carter

Watching and waiting

  (AP Photo/NOAA)

Are you ready for the next hurricane? Well, neither is anyone else.

A new poll shows that most people along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts haven't made hurricane survival plans -- despite pleas from emergency officials, as the AP's Jennifer Kay reports in a dispatch from Miami.

By the numbers:

• Forecasters predict an active season: 13 to 17 named storms, with seven to 10 of them becoming hurricanes.
• 53 percent of people surveyed in 18 Atlantic and Gulf Coast states say they don't feel they are vulnerable to a hurricane, or related tornadoes and flooding, according to the Mason-Dixon poll.
• 88 percent said they had not taken any steps to fortify their homes.

Photo: A file satellite image provided by NOAA from Oct. 21, 2005, of Hurricane Wilma reaching Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.

-- Steph Hoo

A twist in the Russian spy case

(AP Photo/ Misha Japaridze)

I didn't do it. They did.

The guy whom Britain has named as a suspect in the ultra-mysterious, polonium poisoning of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko said he has evidence of British special services' involvement in the death.

Read the complete story about Andrei Lugovoi's claims by the AP's Vladimir Isachenkov.

Or, listen to it.

-- Hillary Rhodes 

From the editor's desk: international news

(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

AP deputy international editor Nicolas B. Tatro gives us an audio update of today's top stories being covered by the AP's foreign correspondents:

• Violence in Iraq affects students' final exams.
• A suspect in the KGB spy case says he has evidence that the British government was involved in the poisoning.
• Government supporters in Lebanon are celebrating the establishment of a U.N. tribunal to prosecute the killers of former Prime Minister  Rafik Hariri.
• The government of Spain is suing the company that discovered the sunken ship  with a huge treasure trove of gold and silver coins.

-- Howie Rumberg

Better spy tools

  (AP Photo/CIA)
Is it a bug? No, it's a Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Dragonfly, developed by the CIA's Office of Research and Development. As the AP's Katherine Shrader reports in a scintillating story, the U.S. is stepping up efforts to develop new and better spy gear -- raising questions from Congress over how much the government really needs it.

As for the spy bug, above, tests were unimpressive in the end, since it was too difficult to control it in any kind of cross wind.

Shrader's story, after the jump ...

-- Steph Hoo

Less bang, less buck

  (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The U.S. economy grew a piddling 0.6 percent in the first three months of this year -- the worst performance since 2002.

Yikes.

What's going on: The main culprits are America's bloated trade deficit and businesses cutting investment in supplies, AP economics writer Jeannine Aversa reports from Washington. The deflating housing market isn't helping either.

The "R" word: Fed Chair Ben Bernanke doesn't believe the economy will slide into recession this year, nor do Bush administration officials. But ex Fed chief Alan Greenspan has put the odds at one in three.

Photo: U.S. Navy sailors shop along New York's Fifth Avenue on Tuesday.

-- Steph Hoo

The search for passengers

 

U.S. Health officials are looking for the passengers on two trans-Atlantic flights that were sitting near the man who was infected with a dangerous drug-resistant form of Tuberculosis.

In Europe, officials were tracking down passenger lists for several flights between various European cities that the man took while on his honeymoon earlier this month. The man is currently under the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963.

Read AP Medical Writer Mike Strobbe's analysis of the handling of this infectious disease case, and what it means for national security.

-- Howie Rumberg

Thursday in the news

Straight from the AP wire:

Five Americans among seven dead in Afghan crash
CDC seeks those who sat near TB patient
Twenty-five killed in suicide bombing in Fallujah
Man described as a top spammer arrested
Lugovoi: British involved in spy's death
Gates, Jobs make rare joint appearance

Garcia Marquez goes home

(AP Photo/Jairo Castilla)

One of Colombia's most famous sons returned home Wednesday after a quarter century and was greeted with open arms by the residents of Aracataca.
   
It took twenty police officers to push through an impatient crowd to make way for Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez to get off the train after it pulled into town. He was hounded by autograph-seeking fans and photographers.
   
Garcia Marquez's birthplace served as the inspiration for the fictional town Macondo, immortalized in his masterpiece "One Hundred Years of Solitude."
   
The novel, in which residents suffer years of endless rain and an epidemic of insomnia, introduced the world to "magical realism," in which fantastic events are made to appear ordinary. The literary style has been imitated by a generation of Latin American writers but rarely matched.
 
Read this story by AP's Darcy Crowe for more on Garcia Marquez's trip back home.

-- Jaime Holguin   

What a dre$$!

(AP Photo/Handout)

This iconic pink cocktail dress sold for $192,000 Wednesday to a private European buyer at Christie's sale of film and entertainment memorabilia.
   
It was expected to fetch as much as $30,000.
   
Can you name the actress who made it famous and the film in which she wore it in?

Hint: The sleeveless dress was worn for a scene in which the actress' character discovers her brother has died.
   
Click here for the answer.

-- Jaime Holguin

"Bewusstseinslage" and more fun words

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

It's National Spelling Bee time again in our nation's capital. Time to sit up straight, celebrate nerd-dom, and pump your fist after getting "periostracum" right, according to the story by AP reporter Joseph White. Bad childhood bee memories here at asap of the word "floriferous," by the way. It still hurts. Don't ask.

--Ryan Pearson

Chinook helicopter down

(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, file)

A Chinook helicopter like the one pictured above went down today in Afghanistan -- killing seven people including five Americans. Taliban fighters said they shot it down.

The crash site is near Kajaki, where the U.S. has funded construction of a big hydroelectric dam. British troops have been fighting insurgents in the area to protect the dam.

The AP's Jason Straziuso reports from Kabul that helicopter crashes in Afghanistan are rare.

--Ryan Pearson

Say what?

(AP Photo/Yves Logghe)

How well do you know today's news? Test your knowledge by identifying who made the following statements:

1) "I just don't think the world is ready just yet."

2) "I was doing a fashion show, and all these beautiful young things were smoking outside. They looked at me like I was an old fuddy-duddy."

3) "They sit in front of a television, the computer screen or play video games." (Hint: The man in the picture.)

4) "If we learned anything about these two, it is that they will do what they do when they want to do it."

5) "That's something that's been out there, but it's something that they're continuing to refine."

How many did you get right? Check your answers and your score on the jump. If you got all five, you are a news junkie. If you got three to four, you are tuned in. If you got two, you know something about the world. If you got one or none, started reading up -- you don't know news.

--Chelsea J. Carter

UN creates tribunal over 2005 Hariri killing in Lebanon

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Celebrations broke out in parts of downtown Beirut today after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution establishing an international tribunal to investigate the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Dozens of people prayed before the vote was taken and a crowd in downtown Beirut watched the voting live from New York on a giant screen. Hariri supporters, including those shown above, wept and danced upon word of the U.N approval and some shouted slogans criticizing Syrian President Bashar Assad and his close ally, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

Hariri was a vocal critic of Syrian meddling in Lebanese affairs and his assassination sparked massive demonstrations against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable in his killing. Syria denied involvement, but was forced to withdraw its troops -- ending a 29-year domination of its smaller neighbor.

The vote on the resolution was 10-0 with five abstentions -- Russia, China, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar.

There are many disparate factions vying for political, religious and economic control in Lebanon, including the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and the Syrian-backed opposition led by Hezbollah.

For more on this story, read this AP report by longtime U.N. beat reporter Edith M. Lederer.

--Paul Chavez

The war in Iraq: Ask us anything

Ever have questions about the Iraq war that you don't see addressed in the day-to-day news stories?

Questions you might be embarrassed to ask friends because you worry they're too, well, obvious? Or maybe stuff you're just curious about -- like what Iraqis like to eat or read or watch on TV?

Now, you can get your answers. Far and Wide is introducing a question-and-answer column about Iraq and the war, with the answers coming from the AP journalists who cover the war every day.

So please send your questions -- on anything from the war to everyday life to what it's like to go on patrol with Marines -- to iraqquestions@ap.org. As the questions roll in, we'll pick a few and do our best to answer them.

So check back with Far and Wide in the coming days and weeks to see the AP's answers to your Iraq questions.

Ever have questions about the Iraq war that you don't see addressed in the day-to-day news stories?

Questions you might be embarrassed to ask friends because you worry they're too, well, obvious? Or maybe stuff you're just curious about -- like what Iraqis like to eat or read or watch on TV?

Now, you can get your answers. Far and Wide is introducing a question-and-answer column about Iraq and the war, with the answers coming from the AP journalists who cover the war every day.

So please send your questions -- on anything from the war to everyday life to what it's like to go on patrol with Marines -- to iraqquestions@ap.org. As the questions roll in, we'll pick a few and do our best to answer them.

So check back with Far and Wide in the coming days and weeks to see the AP's answers to your Iraq questions.

PHOTO SPOTLIGHT: Spacing out

(AP Photo/NASA TV)

You might attach a car bra to your Toyota to shield it from bugs and other debris. In space, the stakes are higher: Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday climbed out of the international space station to install protective panels against dangerous space debris that could harm the sophisticated craft. Pictured above are flight engineer Oleg Kotov, left, and commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, right.

Paw Prints: animals in today's news

(AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

SEALS: Animal rights activists painted themselves with fake blood during a protest against seal hunting near the Canadian embassy in Vienna.

WHALES: San Fran's beloved lost mother humpback and her calf look to be back where they belong.

DOGS: Don't read this disgusting story about one man's meatball-eating protest if you love dogs, especially Corgis.

CATS, NO, BOBCATS: Know your animals before you try to rescue them. At least this story ends happily. It didn't have to.

-- Hillary Rhodes

Lakers star Kobe Bryant demands trade

(AP Photo/Paul Connors)

Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, the NBA's leading scorer the past two seasons, wants out.

Bryant asked for a trade today, called the team's front office "a mess" and said he wouldn't change his mind.

"I would like to be traded, yeah," Bryant told ESPN radio. "Tough as it is to come to that conclusion, there's no other alternative. It's rough, man, but I don't see how you can rebuild that trust. I just don't know how you can move forward in that type of situation."

Bryant, shown above in an April 2007 file photo, helped the Lakers win three consecutive champions and has four years left on a seven-year, $136.4 million contract he signed in July 2004.

Los Angeles-based AP sports writer John Nadel, who has covered the Lakers for decades, spoke to "Far and Wide" about Bryant's demand for a trade. Listen to the conversation with Nadel and for more details, read his story moving on the AP's wires.

--Paul Chavez

Celebrity news roundup

(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Celebrity troubles, a Wednesday update:

• You've probably heard Lindsay Lohan is in rehab. But now authorities are wondering if the underage starlet was served alcohol before her weekend crash.
• Mischa Barton was hospitalized over the holiday weekend. Alcohol and her antibiotic didn't mix.
• Talk in court today was that George Michael had several drugs in his system when he was arrested last October.*
• Police want to talk to rapper Fat Joe. They think he witnessed a fatal shooting in Florida.
• Larry Birkhead's former attorney is suing him.

* This story also shares George Michael's real name: George Panayiotou.

-- Caryn Rousseau

That's what we call biofuel

(AP Photo/Diether Endlicher)
Seems the fight against global warming has an unwelcome side effect: raising the price of beer. In Germany.

This, as you might imagine, isn't going well. "Beer prices are a very emotional issue in Germany -- people expect it to be as inexpensive as other basic staples like eggs, bread and milk," brewer Helmut Erdmann told the AP's Kirsten Grieshaber in Aying, Germany.

See the full story after the jump.

--Lisa Tolin

Living large? There's a catalog for you

(AP Photo/Stephen Savoia)

A lawn chair that can hold up to 800 pounds? A toilet seat with a 1,200-pound capacity? Where would you buy something like that?

AP reporter Mark Jewell in Boston has a story on the wire today profiling a Canton, Mass., retailer that makes products like those and sells them in "LivingXL" -- an online and print catalog that markets specialty products for the obese. The company is the first large retailer to address the niche.

Read the story after the jump.

Google committed to South Korea

(AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

Google Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt said his company is committed to expanding its presence in South Korea, a market that has proven a challenge for the world's No. 1 search engine.

Google has been struggling in South Korea -- where high speed Internet access is abundant -- since opening its Korean office in 2004. The market is dominated by NHN Corp.'s Naver Web site.

To learn more about Google's business plan in South Korea, read this story by AP business writer Kelly Olsen.

-- Jenni Sohn

Malaysia court rules in religious freedom case

(AP Photo/Marcus Yam)

Malaysia's top civil court rejected an appeal today by a woman who wanted to be recognized by the government as a Christian after a religious conversion. It's a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country.

Joy, 43, was born Azlina Jailani and applied for a name change on her government identity card. The National Registration Department allowed the name change, but refused to let her change her religious identification from Muslim.

She appealed and lost.

To learn more about the ruling by the three-judge Federal Court panel, read this story by AP reporter Eileen Ng.

--Jenni Sohn

Photo spotlight: In China, past mixes with present

  (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The past and present mingle in intriguing ways in today's China -- as evidenced by this evocative image captured by Associated Press Beijing-based photographer Ng Han Guan.

In it, a Chinese woman in traditional costume is glimpsed between promotional posters for French soccer star Thierry Henry and other international athletes during a press conference in Beijing today by sportswear giant Reebok.

-- Steph Hoo

The new face of computing

(AP Photo/Andrei Pungovschi)

This wacky drawing demonstrates Microsoft's new product "Surface", a screen that responds to touch and can read special bar codes. Unlike most touchscreens, this system can respond to more than one touch at a time. Analysts who cover the PC industry were wowed by this.

Read more about it here.

-- Peter Hamlin 

Fast focus: Reporting the tuberculosis case

(AP Photo illustration/Donald King)

It's a fast-moving story with global scope: Health authorities around the world are working to track down anyone who may have had contact with a man who has a dangerous form of tuberculosis -- in particular, passengers and cabin crew who sat near him on recent airplane flights.

Why, precisely, are officials so concerned?, we wondered. Seeking answers, we spoke with the AP's health and science editor Kit Frieden, who explains in this audio clip.

Among the developments:

• The man has been placed under the first U.S. government-ordered quarantine since 1963.
• The form of TB in question resists almost all drugs used to treat the disease.

-- Steph Hoo

From the editor's desk: national news

AP National Editor Brian Toolan just updated us on several top stories AP reporters are working on today. Here's a summary of what he had to say:

The Army is giving soldiers who have had limbs amputated the opportunity to return to active duty duty -- even the chance to go back to Iraq.

About 5,000 heads of households who relocated to Houston in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina are jobless.

A transsexual is running for city manager in Sarasota, Florida.

-- Howie Rumberg

(AP Photo illustration)

'Everything Sacred' religion video coming today

(Screen shot from galigirls.com)

Do these dolls look Jewish? Well, they are. They're part of a collection called Gali Girls, with the tagline "Jewish dolls for Jewish girls." They're marketed as a wholesome alternative to Barbie, and they each come with a history lesson and a personal story, a la American Girl.

Gali Girls is one of three quirky things we cover in this week's installment of "Everything Sacred," asap's religion video series. The other two topics are a group of Christians who have an offbeat method of shunning pornography, and a Web site where you can confess your sins online, anonymously.

Check back later for the link.

Bush diplomat selected to run World Bank

(AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel, File)

Another American is poised to head the World Bank.

The AP's Jeannine Aversa reports that President Bush selected U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick to takeover for outgoing president Paul Wolfowitz. The pick still needs to be approved by the World Bank's 24-member board, but initial reactions from the members were pretty positive.

"Bob Zoellick is deeply committed to this cause," Bush said.

To see why the World Bank prez is always American, check out this story from asap.

-- Otis Hart

On top of the world

(AP Photo/Binod Joshi)
(AP Photo/Hiroyuki Kuraoka, HO)

Make way in the record books: 71-year-old Katsusuke Yanagisawa has become the oldest person to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. That's him in the photos above.

Soundbite: "I didn't think I would make it," Yanagisawa told the AP in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu, after returning safely from his expedition. "No more high mountains," he added.

Fun fact: The top of Everest may be remote, but nowadays it's also wired -- check out asap's story on telecommuting from 21,000 feet.

-- Steph Hoo

INSIDER INSIGHT: Best of political blogs

The Associated Press' overnight Washington editors scour the political blogs for interesting opinions, analysis and information. Their morning reports consist of the original headlines and text from the blogs. Click below for today's edition, compiled by Jerry Estill.

Sometimes a balk is as good as a hit

(AP Photo/Ed Betz)

Walk. Balk. Bunt. Balk.

That's how the New York Mets scored the tying run against the San Francisco Giants in the 12th inning last night. Two balks in a inning is pretty rare:

• AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker reports that the last time a pitcher committed two balks in the ninth inning or later was in 1998, when  Mike Jackson did it.
• Last year it only happened twice in any inning, with Orlando Hernandez and Runelvys Hernandez the offenders, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Last night, Giants reliever (and former Mets closer) Armando Benitez was called twice. Speedy Jose Reyes' dancing and dekeing on first base, then third base, rattled Benitez into making the mistakes.

Benitez, of course, disagreed with the umpire, but his manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that at least on the last call, the umpire was correct.

The game ended in a more mundane manner: a home run by Carlos Delgado.

-- Howie Rumberg

News from Iraq

 

An AP video summary of the top news in Iraq:

• Five British citizens were kidnapped from a finance ministry office.
• The 10 American soldiers who were killed Monday made May the third deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war in Iraq started in March 2003.
• At least 120 people were killed in bombings around the country.

Other news from around Iraq:

• A Pentagon survey found that 45 percent of junior enlisted Army soldiers in Iraq rate their unit's morale as low or very low. Read AP Writer Pauline Jelinek's story for more on the survey.
• AP correspondent Bushra Juhi reports that two Iraqi journalists were killed.
• In Ankara, Turkey, AP correspondent Selcan Hacaoglu writes that Turkey has been massing troops on its border with Iraq.

-- Howie Rumberg

Wednesday in the news

Straight from the AP wire:
Iraqi-U.S. troops seek kidnapped Britons
Federal quarantine for TB traveler
Zoellick to be nominated to World Bank
Annual spelling bee starts today
Lohan checks into rehab after car crash
Microsoft unveils new surface computer

Mexico City and abortion

The heated debate over abortion in Mexico is headed to the country's Supreme Court.

In one corner you have Mexico City's leftist government. In the other, conservative President Felipe Calderon and the influential Roman Catholic Church.

The legal challenges to Mexico City's abortion law which allows abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy were filed by two federal agencies, the Attorney General's Office and National Human Rights Commission. The law was approved last month by the leftist-dominated Mexico City assembly.

Elsewhere in Mexico, abortion is allowed only in cases of rape, when the mother's life is in danger or if the fetus has severe deformities.

-- Jaime Holguin

New face at the World Bank

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The man set to take over leadership of the World Bank leader is a familiar face on the world stage.

Robert Zoellick has been around the globe as the country's No. 2 diplomat and President Bush's trade chief, and is likely to be well-received by other nations. Bush is expected to announce his nomination of Zoellick on Wednesday.

For more on Zoellick's background, see Jeanine Aversa's AP story.

--Ryan Pearson

LAPD Chief Bratton: 'It all broke down'

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told police commissioners today that his officers used poor tactics and were ill prepared for a May Day immigration rally in which officers fired rubber bullets and swung batons to disperse a crowd.

The department's reaction evoked memories of the Rodney King beating, in which a group of primarily white LAPD officers beat black motorist Rodney King with batons. The officers' acquittal on criminal charges sparked the deadly 1992 riots.

The MacArthur Park rally near downtown degenerated into chaos when police responded to a group of agitators who they claimed were throwing rocks and bottles at officers.

Videos of the incident show officers striking peaceful protesters, including children, and hitting reporters covering the event.

"It was quite apparent ... it all broke down," Bratton said after the city's civilian Police Commission was given a minute-by-minute account of the melee.

For more on this story, read this AP report by writer Jeremiah Marquez.

--Paul Chavez

Lebanese army, Palestinian militants resume fighting

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Lebanon appears to be a powder keg ... again.

Lebanese troops and Fatah Islam militants battled in heavy clashes today in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

It was the worst outbreak of violence following a weeklong truce that saw sporadic gunfire between the groups.

Lebanese soldiers fired artillery into the northern edge of the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp today and have threatened to storm it if the Fatah Islam militants don't surrender. Lebanese soldiers, shown above, were told to shoot at any demonstrators trying to reach the besieged refugee camp.

U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora vowed to crush the militants, but Fatah Islam leaders have said they will never surrender.

POWDER KEG?

The standoff has raised concerns of more violence across Lebanon, which has a total of 12 Palestinian refugee camps where militant movements run rampant.

A war broke out last summer in Lebanon after the Shiite opposition party Hezbollah conducted a raid into Israel and captured two