News In Brief

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Judge Orders Release Of 5 Held At Guantanamo Bay

A federal judge in Washington on Thursday ordered the release of five Algerians who have been held without charges at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for seven years.

Dow Down After Asian Markets Shed 7 Percent

Wall Street opened lower Thursday following a trend set by world stocks that saw benchmarks in Tokyo and Seoul losing almost 7 percent each.

Jobless Rate Soars; Bush To OK Extended Benefits

More workers made first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week than at any time since 1992, as the nation's economy teetered on the brink of recession, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

African Union Calls For UN Action On Piracy

The United Nations should send peacekeepers to Somalia urgently to stop the strife that is fueling piracy and is being aggravated by feuding politicians, the African Union's top diplomat said on Thursday.

Auto Industry Bailout On Hold

Senate Democrats appeared Thursday to have abandoned their effort to bail out the U.S. auto industry with funds from the $700 billion earmarked for the financial industry.

White House Pushing Environmental Rule Change

The Bush administration is threatening to eliminate the input of federal wildlife scientists in some endangered species cases, allowing the federal agency in charge of building, authorizing or funding a project to determine if it is likely to harm endangered wildlife and plants.