HOUSTON -- Police have charged a Houston man with manslaughter in the deaths of five children who were in his car when he drove into a ditch filled with water. Chanton Jenkins, 32, was charged Sunday with four counts of intoxication manslaughter. Emergency crews were still searching for the body of one of the five children, the Houston Chronicle reported. Jenkins is the father of three of the children who died Saturday when he drove his car ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Spies hacked into U.S. military computers, copying data that could threaten the effectiveness of U.S. fighter jets, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. In recent months, the newspaper said, someone was able to get into Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project and take several terabytes of information concerning design and electronics systems. Officials told the Journal it could make it easier for America's enemies to defend against the F-35 Lightning I fighter jet. The Journal ... [full story]

BOSTON -- Accused Craigslist killer Phillip Markoff was ordered held without bail Tuesday in Boston. Police said paying gambling debts may have been the motive for the Quincy, Mass., man charged with robbing two women he met on Craigslist and killing one. Markoff, 22, was denied bond on the homicide charge, The Boston Herald reported. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. The Herald said the shackled Markoff was dressed in a wrinkled button-down Oxford blue ... [full story]

TEHRAN -- A conference of Islamic prosecutors in Iran worked Wednesday to develop an indictment against Israeli leaders, accusing them of war crimes in Gaza. The charges stem from Israel's military offensive into Gaza in December and January against Hamas militants who control the strip. Among other things, the Israeli military has been accused of using excessive and indiscriminate force in civilian areas. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel is "a regime that only understands the language ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration did not research the "waterboarding" torture technique enough to realize it had been deemed ineffective by U.S. trainers, sources say. If they had done so, they would have found that experts had found that waterboarding, in which trainees were made to experience near-drowning as part of the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, or SERE, program, was useless. The technique was part of the Cold War-era military survival training and when used, ... [full story]

NEW YORK -- Madonna Constantine alleges in a $200 million lawsuit against Columbia University "academic lynching" resulted in her dismissal from the New York school. Constantine, who gained national attention when a noose was found on her college office door, alleges in her Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit Columbia officials orchestrated her 2008 dismissal amid claims of plagiarism, the New York Post said Wednesday. "The manner in which the scheme was hatched and carried out is tantamount to ... [full story]

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Medical marijuana advocates say they believe a measure legalizing its use in New York state has a good chance of passing in the coming weeks. New York would be the 15th state in the United States to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes, and advocates are confident they have the votes in the Legislature to pass a legalization bill before the current session in Albany ends in June. The Buffalo (N.Y.) Daily News said Wednesday ... [full story]

JERUSALEM -- Some 80 percent of both Israelis and Palestinians support the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Middle East, a survey indicates. The poll, commissioned by the non-governmental organization One Voice and published Wednesday by Army Radio, also showed both peoples were strongly opposed to the notion of one bi-national state and indicated there was disagreement over Jerusalem and other holy sites, The Jerusalem Post reported. One Voice is made up of Israelis and Palestinians ... [full story]

MILLTOWN, Ind. -- Police say a 2-year-old girl in Milltown, Ind., fatally shot herself with a gun owned by her stepfather, who serves as a reserve police officer. State police officer Sgt. Chad Dick said Alexis Camp accidentally shot herself in the head after finding reserve Crawford County Sheriff's Department officer Jared Conrad's firearm, the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal said Wednesday. Dick said it appeared the young girl found and accidentally discharged the gun Monday in a bedroom ... [full story]

WOODSTOCK, Ontario -- Canadian police in Woodstock, Ontario, said Wednesday a witness helped them create a composite sketch of a woman last seen with a missing 8-year-old girl. At an Ontario Provincial Police new conference Wednesday, Detective William Renton said he could offer no details about the witness, who saw the woman walking with Victoria Stafford April 8 after the girl completed school, CTV News reported. A security video shows the woman and girl walking together, but ... [full story]