U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) today announced House approval of funding for dredging south coast ports and $1.250 million for a wave power project in Reedsport. The funding, requested by DeFazio earlier this year, was included in the fiscal year 2008 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.  The bill passed by a vote of 312-112. In addition to the dredging funding, the bill included $1,250,000 for a wave power demonstration project in ... [full story]

LONDON -- A British parliamentary watchdog recommended suspending a member of parliament over alleged infractions involving an Iraqi aid charity. After a four-year investigation by the commissioner for parliamentary standards, Philip Mawer, it was recommended MP George Galloway be suspended for 18 days without pay or privileges when Parliament reconvenes Oct. 8, The Guardian reported Tuesday. The recommendation alleges Galloway, a member of the Respect Party, didn't register his interest in the Mariam Appeal or ... [full story]

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is concerned about federal plans to reduce the number of National Guard troops stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border. In a letter Monday, the Democrat asked President George W. Bush to maintain troop strength along New Mexico's international border until more Customs and Border Patrol agents are trained and assigned to the area, the Las Cruces (N.M.) Sun-News reported Tuesday. The number of immigrants illegally crossing the ... [full story]

TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday the country looks forward to more talks with the United States about Iraq's security situation. Speaking to reporters in Tehran, Mottaki said Iraq had requested Iran's participation in talks, and that Swiss officials who intermediate between Washington and Tehran had been notified, Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Relations between Iran and the United States were frozen since 1980, but the two sides convened for the ... [full story]

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- There is sufficient evidence to try a 15-year-old alleged mastermind of a planned high school killing spree as an adult, New York prosecutors said. Jeremy Scileppi, chief of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Major Crime Bureau on Long Island said the unidentified youth was under psychiatric evaluation, and his alleged co-conspirator, Michael McDonough, 17, could also face stiffer charges. "This is one of the most serious things I've seen in my ... [full story]

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- A Czech government rights committee said it plans to compensate victims of forced sterilization, mostly Gypsy women, with payments of about $10,000. The government council for human rights is to consider a compensation plan in September, the Czech Lidove Noviny daily reported Tuesday. The committee for biomedicine and human rights has worked out the plan to compensate a number of Romany women and at least one man who were sterilized without ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said this week that an allegation linking him to several New Orleans prostitutes is completely unfounded. The junior Louisiana senator, who previously admitted to having ties with the "D.C. Madam," said he did not have a relationship with any of the prostitutes currently involved in a major New Orleans prostitution case, CNN reported Tuesday. Vitter paired his denial of the prostitution allegation on Monday with an emotional apology ... [full story]

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- A Roman Catholic archbishop in Zimbabwe says accusations he committed adultery are the latest attempt to discredit him politically. Archbishop Pius Ncube, of Bulawayo, was sued for adultery less than a week after he returned home from a trip aboard, where he again criticized President Robert Mugabe's government as ruthless and inept, The Times of London reported Tuesday. Ncube, who once admitted he prayed for Mugabe's death, is being sued for $160,000 ... [full story]

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A lawyers' rally in Islamabad, Pakistan, was disrupted Tuesday when a blast from a suicide bomber killed 12 people and injured 35 others. Sources told CNN that the deadly explosion occurred at the rally site before the official start of the event, at which suspended Pakistan Chief Justice Iftikar M. Chaudhry was scheduled to speak. Chaudhry, who lost his post March 9, was not at the site when the explosion occurred. Police ... [full story]

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A man killed by police outside the Colorado governor's office sent an e-mail to the company where he was an intern saying God had appointed him to rule. Aaron Snyder e-mailed employees at Advanced Energy in Fort Collins early Monday, saying he had been chosen "emperor of sovereign rule." He then left the company for the capitol building in Denver, the Rocky Mountain News reported, renting a tuxedo on the way. ... [full story]