LONDON - Newly discovered files reveal the British sometimes didn’t say “please” when hustling scientists out of Germany at the end of World War II.Foreign Office archives revealed that some Germans were actually picked up in the middle of the night by British intelligence agents and spirited off to England where they were put to work for the government and even private companies.The British newspaper The Guardian said some of the technicians and scientists were, ... [full story]

ALGIERS, Algeria - More than 200 forest fires have burned in Algeria in the past two days, killing at least eight people, officials said Friday.Algeria is the latest country in the Mediterranean area to suffer from wild fires this summer. Greece has been hit by thousands of fires, which have killed scores of people, threatened classical monuments and scorched the mountains around Athens.Major fires have also been reported in Turkey and Italy. Many of the ... [full story]

KANANGA, Democratic Republic of Congo - More than 100 people have died of a hemorrhagic fever since June in the Democratic Republic of Congo, health officials said.Jean-Constatin Kanow, the provincial doctor in Kasai Occidental Province, told the U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks that 217 people have contracted the disease in four villages in the Mweka area and 103 have died. Three of the dead were children.The epidemic was recognized on June 8. Two village chiefs ... [full story]

BERLIN - A Berlin synagogue, the largest in Germany, held its first religious service in 67 years Friday to mark its reconstruction and reopening.The Ryke Street Synagogue, which can hold 1,200 worshipers, was built in 1904. The building was heavily damaged in Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom orchestrated by the Nazis with attacks on Jewish homes, businesses and places of worship.One of the guests at Friday’s service, Rabbi Leo Trepp preached at the synagogue in the ... [full story]

BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called for a cease-fire Friday by all armed militias, following the example set by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.Maliki issued his call in a statement released by his office, The New York Times reported.“This initiative is considered an encouraging step on the way of enhancing stability and security,” he said. “It is a good opportunity to freeze the work of other militias from different political and ideological affiliations to ... [full story]

TEHRAN - A new report reveals a split between U.N. arms inspectors and the United States and its allies regarding how to contain Iran’s nuclear program.The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran was cooperative and answered questions about past suspicious activities and, while Tehran’s uranium enrichment effort is growing, the output is lower than expected."This is the first time Iran is ready to discuss all the outstanding issues which triggered the crisis in confidence," Mohamed ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Warner, R-Va., won't seek re-election, the 29-year veteran of the U.S. Congress announced Friday.Warner, 80, opposed U.S. President George Bush's sending 30,000 more troops to Iraq and recently urged the president to begin bringing U.S. soldiers home in September, CNN said.A veteran of both the U.S. Navy and Marines, Warner served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and as secretary of the Navy.He sits on the Armed Services Committee, ... [full story]

DES MOINES, Iowa - The judge who ruled that same-sex couples can legally marry in Polk County, Iowa, put a hold on his order Friday.Polk County Recorder Julie Haggerty immediately stopped issuing licenses to same-sex couples, the Des Moines (Iowa) Register reported. The office had issued 21 licenses by 11:30 a.m. Friday, mostly to same-sex couples.District Judge Robert Hanson said Thursday a state law declaring only marriage between males and females is invalid, violates the ... [full story]

ORLANDO, Fla. - Disgraced former astronaut Lisa Nowak no longer has to wear a court-ordered, global-positioning device strapped to her ankle.In granting the U.S. Navy captain's request to remove the device, Orange County, Fla., Circuit Court Judge Marc Lubet Thursday noted Nowak had no prior criminal record and hadn't violated any conditions of her release since she was freed from jail seven months ago, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Friday.Nowak, a mission specialist on shuttle ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is signaling in court documents that may invoke the "state secrets" privilege to block a suit against a Belgian banking cooperative.The U.S. Justice Department claims the suit against the Swift consortium, which secretly provided the United States with millions of private financial records, could disrupt of a vital national security program and cause the release of "highly classified information," the International Herald Tribune reported Friday.U.S. President George Bush's government has ... [full story]