CHICAGO -- A U.S. District judge in Chicago quashed a request by convicted newspaper baron Conrad Black to leave the country for his Toronto home. Pending his Nov. 30 sentencing for fraud and obstruction of justice, Black was originally ordered to stay either in Chicago at his Ritz-Carlton hotel room or his $35 million home in Palm Beach, Fla., the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday. Earlier this week, his Canadian lawyer Edward Greenspan petitioned U.S. District ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- A classified U.S. court in Washington has reined in what intelligence agencies can capture from telephone and e-mail communications from abroad. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court's ruling in recent months only became known in the past week. It prohibits intelligence services from listening in on terror suspects in other parts of the world where the communication could come through the United States, the Los Angeles Times reported. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror ... [full story]

FLOWER MOUND, Texas -- A Texas woman, who apparently killed her husband, two children and herself, reportedly wrote a note claiming her family was infected with the HIV virus. However, police told the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram the woman, identified as Jon Andrea Roberts, had no "known terminal illness." Officials haven't released medical information for the rest of the family but said the cause of their deaths and any illnesses they suffered would be disclosed ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George Bush sharply criticized the U.S. Congress for heading for vacation without passing any spending bills. Bush also complained in a statement delivered Thursday in the White House Rose Garden following a Cabinet meeting about the amount of money Congress is considering spending, warning it would lead to a massive tax hike. Failure to adopt a budget, Bush said, means "departments may not be able to move forward with urgent priorities. ... [full story]

MINNEAPOLIS -- Crews were checking boxcars crushed by the Interstate 35W bridge collapse to rule out a hazardous material threat, a Minneapolis official said Thursday. Pollution containment crews were assessing train cars compressed when the bridge suddenly fell into the Mississippi River and its banks during evening rush hour Wednesday. At least four people were confirmed dead, scores sent to area hospitals and 20 were reported missing. One car contained a substance "preliminarily identified" as ... [full story]

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minneapolis police Thursday lowered the death toll in the Interstate 35W bridge collapse to four people confirmed dead, down from seven reported earlier. The recovery effort began Thursday as crews searched wreckage and rubble left from the structure's falling into the Mississippi River and its banks during evening rush hour Wednesday. Officials said at least 20 people were missing. Scores of people were sent to area hospitals. "It's a slow, deliberate recovery operation," ... [full story]

MINNEAPOLIS -- Dozens of children survived a Minneapolis bridge collapse that killed at least nine people and sent scores to hospitals, CNN reported Thursday. Officials said 52 children and nine adults were on a school bus returning from a summer youth program field trip when the bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed, sending the vehicle and its passengers onto the river bank below. Eight children, ages 5 to 14, were hospitalized when the Interstate 35W ... [full story]

MINNEAPOLIS -- A busy freeway bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed Wednesday, killing at least seven people as vehicles plunged into the water. Minneapolis Fire Chief Jim Clack said at a news conference seven deaths had been confirmed but the number was expected to rise. He said more than 60 people were sent to hospitals. At least six were in critical condition, a medical official said. "We've moved from a rescue mode ... ... [full story]

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Bulgarian officials said they would transfer $56 million to Libya under an agreement that led to the release of six Bulgarian medics from a Tripoli prison. The Bulgarian government decided Thursday to pay $56,635,373 to an international fund for children in Libya infected with the HIV virus, the Bulgarian news agency BTA reported. A total of 17 governments or governmental organizations, nine companies and one non-governmental organization have promised to contribute to ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Threatened with a perjury investigation, U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is clarifying remarks he made regarding federal surveillance actions. Congressional Democrats have blasted Gonzales for offering what they describe as misleading testimony both last week and in 2006. The attorney general sent a letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, confirming a dispute between the Justice Department and the White House in March 2004 involved National Security Agency watchdog activities, ... [full story]