The Associated Press

Sports

Broncos stun Tar Heels in Oakland

By The Associated Press | November 22

OAKLAND, Calif. - Roy Williams traveled a long way to get outfoxed by an old golfing buddy. Travis Niesen scored 26 points and Kyle Bailey made three second-half 3-pointers, and Santa Clara spoiled No. 4 North Carolina's season opener 77-66 Friday night in the Pete Newell Challenge. The cold-shooting Tar Heels (0-1) lost their opener for only the fifth time since 1930 and will certainly lose their highest preseason ranking in seven years.

Sports

Top spots unchanged in AP poll

By The Associated Press | October 25

NEW YORK - Southern California's impressive performance Saturday did not earn any extra love from the media. The Trojans, who handed Washington its first shutout in 23 years, retained its 50 first-place votes and top spot in the latest Associated Press college football poll released Sunday. On Saturday, the defending co-national champion Trojans (7-0) blanked the Huskies, 38-0, snapping their Pac-10 Conference foe's NCAA-best 271-game streak of games without being shut out.

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Powell Assures Afghans of U.S. Help

By The Associated Press | January 18

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Secretary of State Colin Powell, the most senior U.S. official to visit Afghanistan in 25 years, promised Thursday the United States would help rebuild the country and wipe out the ``contamination'' of terrorism. Powell told Hamid Karzai, the interim Afghan leader, the United States would make a substantial financial commitment at next week's international aid donors conference in Tokyo and that U.S. forces would be relentless in pursuing the remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban.

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Video Shows Al-Qaida Suspects

By The Associated Press | January 18

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government on Thursday released photos and video excerpts of five suspected al-Qaida members delivering what Attorney General John Ashcroft described as ``martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists.'' Ashcroft called upon people worldwide to help ``identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians.'' "These men could be anywhere in the world,'' he said.

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Military Looks to Cut Patrols in U.S.

By The Associated Press | January 15

WASHINGTON -- The military has flown more than 13,000 fighter-jet patrols over American cities since Sept. 11 at a cost exceeding $324 million. Now it wants to cut back. The round-the-clock patrols designed to deter terrorists may be straining planes and personnel, the Pentagon said Monday. Four months after the airliner attacks, any decision on ending or changing the patrols may come down to a calculation of how safe Americans would feel with the change, some officials say.

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Government Considers Bioterror Defense

By The Associated Press | January 15

WASHINGTON -- In warehouses hidden across the nation are tons of pills for anthrax and radiation and vaccine for smallpox -- but the nation's anti-terrorism stockpile is far from complete. Next month, in a closed-door meeting in Atlanta, FBI and other intelligence agents will meet with physician experts on germ and chemical warfare and radiation to figure out what therapies should be bought next.

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U.S. Bombs More Al-Qaida Hide-Outs

By The Associated Press | January 15

KABUL, Afghanistan -- U.S. warplanes intensified bombing raids on terrorist hide-outs in eastern Afghanistan on Monday in hopes of striking Osama bin Laden's die-hard supporters, and the United Nations called on donor nations to step up aid to rebuild the country. The Zawar region along the border with Pakistan, where al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts are believed to have taken refuge in a complex of mountain caves, has been under air assault for nearly two weeks. The attacks are the heaviest since the campaign against the Tora Bora cave complex ended last month.

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Bush Might Limit Distribution of Germ Weapons Information

By The Associated Press | January 14

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is considering whether to restrict distribution of government documents that describe how to make germ weapons, White House officials said Sunday. U.S. stockpiles of offensive germ warfare agents were destroyed nearly three decades ago as part of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. But the government kept the blueprints for manufacturing such weapons, and continues to sell them.

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Islamic Groups Vow to Defy Ban

By The Associated Press | January 14

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Hardline Islamic groups in Pakistan vowed to defy a government crackdown on Sunday after a two-day nationwide police sweep netted more than 600 of their activists and sealed several offices. "The government is targeting jihadi (holy warrior) groups at the behest of America and India. We condemn the move," said spokesman Mushtaq Askari of the Al-Badr Mujahedeen, which is fighting to end Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir. "Any crackdown or restrictions won't hurt our struggle. Our Kashmir jihad will continue," Askari said.

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Afghan Prisoners Leave for Cuba

By The Associated Press | January 14

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- Guarded by U.S. troops and attack dogs, a second group of suspected Osama bin Laden supporters departed Sunday for a U.S. prison camp in Cuba as U.S. bombers flew their most punishing raids in weeks on caves near the Pakistani border. The 30 prisoners, shackled and with their faces covered, shuffled in the darkness onto a C-17 transport plane for the flight to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba.