Briefly

Iraq

Two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, military says

Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq, the U.S. military said today, bringing the number of American combat deaths to 179, 32 more than were killed during the first Gulf war.

One soldier was killed in action on Thursday near the Iraqi town of al Hilla, 34 miles south of Baghdad, said Spc. Margo Doers. The second, also on Thursday, was from the 1st Armored Division based in Baghdad. Doers could not provide any further details of the deaths.

Sixty-five U.S. soldiers have been killed since President Bush declared an end to formal combat on May 1.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

More than one in 10 adopted U.S. children born overseas

More than one in 10 of the nation’s adopted children was born overseas and the largest number come from Korea, the Census Bureau found in its first report on adoptions.

Experts say many American parents look abroad because the process of adopting foreign children usually is faster to complete. Also, the stigma once attached to parents who adopted a child of a different race or ethnicity has diminished.

Nearly 13 percent, or 200,000, of the country’s 1.6 million adopted children, were born outside the United States. By comparison, 4 percent of the 59.8 million children living with a biological parent, or roughly 2.3 million, were foreign-born, according to data from the 2000 census being released today. There also are 3.3 million stepchildren.

Russia

12 Chechen rebels, 8 soldiers killed in clash in Chechnya

Eight Russian soldiers and 12 rebels were killed in fierce fighting in southern Chechnya, an official in the war-ravaged region’s Kremlin-backed administration said Thursday.

Russian special forces combed forests around the southern villages of Serzhen-Yurt and Avtury, where the fighting took place, and military helicopters shelled the routes along which rebels could have retreated after Wednesday’s fighting, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Elsewhere in Chechnya, Russian military positions were attacked by rebels 19 times in the previous 24 hours, with one servicemen killed and eight others wounded, the official said. In the capital, Grozny, two soldiers were killed and four wounded Wednesday night when their truck hit a land mine, the official said.

New Zealand

Magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes remote south coast

A powerful earthquake early today struck the remote southern coast of New Zealand. There were no immediate reports of injury in the temblor, which was felt hundreds of miles away.

The magnitude 7.1 quake, about 12.5 miles deep, hit the Fiordland coast of South Island at 12:12 a.m., the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences said.

The quake was felt across southern New Zealand but emergency services had no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage.

Carl Koning, night porter at the Quality Hotel in the southern tourist town of Te Anau, said bottles, glasses and even television sets crashed onto the floor.