Afghanistan: Weapons hunt follows battle

Hundreds of U.S. troops searched a maze of caves for weapons caches Tuesday after subduing scores of heavily armed Afghan rebels loyal to a renegade warlord in the largest-scale fighting in Afghanistan since last spring.

At least 18 of about 80 rebels were reportedly killed in the fighting, which began Monday in the mountains of southeastern Afghanistan, near the town of Spin Buldak close to the Pakistan border. There were no casualties among the more than 200 U.S. soldiers and allied Afghan militia troops, U.S. military officials said.

The fight ended with U.S. and coalition forces cordoning off the area and beginning an intensive search for hidden arms and rebel fighters.

The rebels appeared to be hard-line Islamic followers of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, U.S. military officials said.

Virginia: Trial date set in sniper case

A judge set a Nov. 10 trial date Tuesday for 17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo, who could face the death penalty for his alleged role in the sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington area.

Prosecutors in Fairfax had asked for a trial date in late June, while the defense had requested February 2004. Circuit Judge Jane Roush picked a date in between, saying it allowed twice the time normally granted under Virginia law for a speedy trial.

Malvo and John Allen Muhammad, 42, are accused of killing 13 people and wounding six in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They are being tried first in Virginia because its laws allow the best opportunities for the death penalty.

South Korea: Envoy unable to meet Kim

A South Korean envoy who had hoped to try in person to dissuade North Korea’s Kim Sung Il from pursuing a nuclear program was returning home today without meeting the reclusive leader, as the North accused Washington of planning a major attack on the communist country.

South Korea had been optimistic that its delegation, led by presidential envoy Lim Dong-won, would be able to meet the North Korean leader. But instead, Lim was allowed only to meet other high-level officials, officials in the Seoul said.

On Tuesday, North Korea made a strong warning of an increasing threat of war, saying the U.S. State Department was making “a final examination” of an attack plan that American forces, with the help of South Korean troops, could carry out within hours of receiving orders.

Florida: Astronauts recall tragedies

Space shuttle Columbia’s astronauts joined Mission Control in a moment of silence Tuesday at the exact time 17 years ago that Challenger exploded in the sky.

NASA’s work force, in orbit and on Earth, remembered not only the seven astronauts who died on Jan. 28, 1986, but also the three who were killed by a fire in their Apollo spacecraft at the pad on Jan. 27, 1967. At the launch site Tuesday, flags flew at half staff for the second day in a row.

The two tragedies, separated by 19 years and a single day, represent the space agency’s darkest hours.

“It is today that we remember and honor the crews of Apollo 1 and Challenger. They made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives and service to their country and for all mankind,” Columbia commander Rick Husband radioed a few minutes before the airwaves went silent.