| AP Top News at 6:38 p.m. EST |
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Bush to Seek Intelligence Failures Probe
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, under mounting political pressure, will sign an executive order to establish a full-blown investigation of U.S. intelligence failures in Iraq, a senior White House official said Sunday. The investigation will look at what the United States believed it knew before the war against Saddam Hussein's regime and what has been determined since the invasion. Former chief weapons inspector David Kay has concluded that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction, a chief rationale for the U.S.-led war.
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Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 56 in Iraq
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) - Two suicide bombers with explosives wired to their bodies struck the offices of the country's two main Kurdish parties in nearly simultaneous attacks Sunday, killing at least 56 people and wounding more than 235 in the deadliest assault in Iraq in six months. The attacks struck in the Kurdish heartland and took a heavy toll among senior leaders of Iraq's most pro-American ethnic group.
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Airline Cancels Washington-Houston Flight
WASHINGTON (AP) - Continental Airlines canceled a Sunday evening flight from Washington to Houston after security concerns were raised by the Homeland Security Department. Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Flight 1519 was canceled "due to security concerns and threat reporting about that particular flight."
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244 Trampled, Killed at Saudi Pilgrimage
MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) - At least 244 people were trampled to death and hundreds more hurt Sunday under the crush of worshippers in one of the deadliest disasters during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. The stampede occurred during the stoning of the devil, an emotional and notoriously perilous hajj ritual. Pilgrims frantically throw rocks, shout insults or hurl their shoes at three stone pillars - acts that are supposed to demonstrate their deep disdain for Satan.
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Super Bowl Kicks Off Between Pats, Cats
HOUSTON (AP) - The Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers kicked off Sunday, following a tribute for the first anniversary of the Columbia space shuttle disaster. As players stood on the sidelines at Reliant Stadium and fans held up U.S. flag placards, R&B; star Beyonce Knowles sang the national anthem, before a television audience of millions around the world that included U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.
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Bush Budget Highlights Campaign Themes
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is sending Congress a $2.4 trillion budget that emphasizes the major themes of his re-election campaign - bolstering the military to fight terrorism, strengthening homeland security and making his sweeping tax cuts permanent. But the spending plan released Monday, covering the budget year beginning Oct. 1, is constrained by deficits projected to top a half-trillion dollars this year.
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Democratic Rivals Target Undecided Voters
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Democratic presidential rivals worked across several time zones Sunday to sway undecided voters in states with contests early this week. Howard Dean conceded making an "enormous gamble" by spending so much in Iowa and New Hampshire only to lose both states. "It didn't work," he said. Sen. John Kerry pressed his front-runner's advantage in North Dakota and Sen. John Edwards concentrated on South Carolina, a state he says he must win. Edwards trails Kerry in six of the seven states holding primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, except in his native South Carolina.
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NASA Workers, Families Remember Columbia
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - One year after Columbia broke apart and fell in flaming streaks from the Texas sky, NASA workers who launched the shuttle and its seven astronauts and then gathered up the remains stood united in sorrow Sunday at the precise moment of destruction. The first anniversary of the catastrophe was a time for everyone - rocket engineers, debris searchers, school children, space enthusiasts, even football fans - to pause and remember.
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Oldsmobile Dealers Ready to Bury Brand
LAS VEGAS (AP) - No one's wearing a sandwich board with an ominous message, but for hundreds of Oldsmobile dealers attending their industry's annual convention, there's no denying reality: The end is near. "It's time to get on with the burial," said Gary Wight, who has sold Oldsmobiles, the oldest automotive brand name in U.S. history, for 30 years. "It's sad and it's done and it's not going to change. Oldsmobile is a wonderful memory, but there's nothing in the windshield. It's all in the rearview mirror."
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Trebek to Resume 'Jeopardy!' After Wreck
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (AP) - "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek will resume taping his Emmy award-winning quiz show Tuesday after escaping serious injury when he fell asleep at the wheel of his pickup truck on a rural road. The 63-year-old television host was driving alone in the Central Coast town of Templeton around 2:30 p.m. Friday when his truck drifted off the road, sideswiped a bank of mailboxes and sailed over an embankment into a ditch.
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