Afghanistan: Hospital siege ends with all al-Qaida dead
Afghan troops backed by U.S. Special Forces wearing "I love New York" buttons lobbed grenades into a hospital Monday then stormed the burning ward, killing all six al-Qaida gunmen in a firefight.
The attack on the al-Qaida holdouts was ordered after they repeatedly refused to surrender. The wounded Arab fighters had been brought to the Mir Wais Hospital in Kandahar by their comrades shortly before anti-Taliban forces took over the city Dec. 7.
Armed with weapons and explosives, they threatened to blow themselves up if anyone tried to take them prisoner, Afghan authorities said.
"These Arabs fought to the death," said a U.S. soldier who identified himself only as Maj. Chris. "Up to the last minute, we told every man to surrender. None of them listened."
New York City: Group holding reporter makes demands for Cuba detainees
The U.S. government is working to free a Wall Street Journal reporter taken hostage while on assignment in Pakistan, the White House said Monday.
Daniel Pearl, 38, has been missing since Jan. 23.
An e-mail accusing Pearl of being a CIA officer posing as a journalist was sent Sunday to various U.S. newspapers from a group calling itself The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, which claimed responsibility for Pearl's disappearance.
In the e-mail, the group demanded that Pakistanis detained in Cuba by the U.S. military be allowed access to their lawyers and families and that Afghanistan's former ambassador to Pakistan and the Taliban's most-recognized spokesman, Abdul Salam Zaeef, be handed over to Pakistan.
Afghanistan: 14 soldiers injured in helicopter landing
An Army helicopter made a hard landing Monday in eastern Afghanistan, and soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were injured, officials said.
Initial reports from the scene, near the town of Khost, indicated no one was killed, the officials said.
Army Col. Frank Wiercinski, speaking for the 101st in Kandahar, said there were 24 soldiers aboard the helicopter and 14 of them were injured. None of the injuries was considered life threatening, he said.
The CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter was carrying members of the 101st Airborne to a U.S. Marine Corps encampment near Khost, one official said. The soldiers are replacing the Marines, who have been using the outpost in their search for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.
Washington, D.C.: Bush numbers remain high
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows President Bush's popularity is higher and more protracted than any modern president.
The survey found that 83 percent of the public approve of the job Bush is doing. His job approval rating of 83 percent is down nine points from its peak of 92 percent in October, the highest ever recorded by a president, but the durability of his popularity has surprised even Bush's advisers. By a 2-1 ratio, Americans say they trust Bush more than Democrats in Congress to deal with the country's biggest problems.
A total of 1,507 randomly selected adults were interviewed Jan. 24-27 for this survey. Margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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