Kansas: McConnell fueling crew receives highest honor

Four members of an air-refueling crew from McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita have received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The crew — Maj. Brian Neitz, Capt. Nathan Howard, Capt. Tricia Paulsen-Howe and Tech Sgt. James Pittman — helped in the rescue of a fighter pilot shot down in Iraq.

The decoration is the highest medal awarded for combat-related flight operations.

An F-15 had gone down in enemy territory. A half-dozen fighter planes were conducting a search-and-rescue operation but were running out of fuel.

In the next hours, the tanker refueled planes, departing only when it had just enough fuel to return to base safely.

The pilot is still missing.

Washington, D.C.: Nearly 900 prisoners released, Pentagon says

Coalition forces sorting through thousands of Iraqi war prisoners have released nearly 900 after determining they were civilians who had nothing to do with the fighting.

Other prisoners, particularly high-ranking military or government officials in Saddam Hussein’s toppled regime, are being questioned as part of the search for former leaders and weapons of mass destruction.

The United States is holding 6,850 prisoners at a large facility in the southern port city of Umm Qasr, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Ted Wadsworth said Friday.

A total of 887 prisoners that had been held in a British camp and in an American camp in Umm Qasr have been released, the bulk in the last two weeks, Wadsworth said.

Washington, D.C.: Nerve agent expert turns himself in to U.S.

A top Iraqi scientist involved in the country’s development of a sophisticated nerve agent has turned himself in to American authorities, a U.S. official said Friday.

Emad Husayn Abdullah al-Ani was believed to be deeply involved in Iraq’s chemical weapons program and his capture could be an important advance in the U.S. search for chemical and biological weapons inside Iraq. U.S. officials also have accused al-Ani of involvement with an alleged chemical weapons plant in Sudan with links to al-Qaida.

Military officials say U.S. troops have found no confirmed chemical or biological weapons so far in their searches inside Iraq.

Qatar :U.S. takes Baath Party official into custody

U.S. forces have yet another of Saddam Hussein’s top lieutenants in custody.

Samir Abul Aziz al-Najim, a senior member of the Baath Party’s regional command, was handed over to American troops after he was captured near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by Iraqi Kurds allied with the United States.

Al-Najim was on the U.S. Central Command’s “most wanted” list of 55 former regime figures and was the “four of clubs” in a deck of playing cards issued to troops to help identify them. Four of those listed are now in custody, including two of Saddam Hussein’s three half-brothers and his top science adviser, Amer Hammoudi al-Saadi, who surrendered to U.S. troops last weekend.