In The News

President Bush defends his embattled war policy

WASHINGTON – President Bush confronted doubts about his war policy Wednesday, asserting more Iraqi security forces are taking the lead in battle but saying he’s still uncertain when U.S. forces can be withdrawn.

Facing criticism and impatience about the conflict, Bush went on the offensive with the release of a 35-page plan titled “Our National Strategy for Victory in Iraq.”

The plan says increasing numbers of Iraqi troops have been equipped and trained, a democratic government is being forged, Iraq’s economy is being rebuilt and U.S. military and civilian presence will change as conditions improve.

Along with the report, Bush is making a personal appeal to shore up wavering support for the war in remarks Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy. It’s the first in a series of speeches Bush is delivering between now and the Dec. 15 election in Iraq to outline political, security and economic strategies for Iraq.

Supreme Court to Get Abortion Rights Case

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court will consider its first abortion rights case under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, with an unpredictable outcome because of the court’s changing makeup.

The stakes are significant in the dispute over a New Hampshire law requiring minors to tell a parent before ending a pregnancy, although the case does not challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that said abortion is a fundamental constitutional right.

The outcome is likely to signal where the high court is headed on an issue that has been emotional and divisive among the justices and around the country.

Abortion was a prominent subject in Roberts’ confirmation hearings and has emerged as a major issue in President Bush’s nomination of appeals court Judge Samuel Alito to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. O’Connor has been the swing vote in support of abortion rights.

Hurricane Season Finally Ending

MIAMI – The victims of the busiest and costliest Atlantic hurricane season on record may be comforted now that it’s finally ending Wednesday: No hurricane has been known to hit the United States between December and May.

However, hurricanes still could form over the next few months. In fact, a tropical storm took shape in the Atlantic on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, thousands remain homeless along the Gulf Coast, where Katrina hit three months ago.

Forecasters say 2006 could be another brutal year because the Atlantic is in a period of frenzied hurricane activity that began in 1995 and could last at least another decade.

Va. Gov. Grants Clemency for Condemned Man

RICHMOND – A day before Robin Lovitt was to become the 1,000th person executed since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, Virginia’s governor spared the man’s life.

Lovitt’s sentence on Tuesday was commuted to life in prison without parole for stabbing a man to death with a pair of scissors during a 1988 pool hall robbery.

Gov. Mark R. Warner said evidence from Lovitt’s trial had been improperly destroyed, depriving the defense of the opportunity to subject the material to the latest in DNA testing.

“The commonwealth must ensure that every time this ultimate sanction is carried out, it is done fairly,” said Warner, who had never before granted clemency to a death row inmate.

The 1,000th execution is now scheduled for early Friday in North Carolina, where Kenneth Lee Boyd is slated to die for killing his estranged wife and her father.