TEHRAN -- Iranian officials on Thursday carried out hangings of nine men convicted of sex and drug offenses, with five of the executions public. The executions took place in two cities, an International Herald Tribune correspondent reported. In the northeastern city of Mashad, seven men convicted of abduction, rape and theft were hanged, five of them in front of a crowd. State-run television showed images of the men's bodies slowly turning from the ropes with ... [full story]

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. -- Authorities near Kansas City, Mo., have charged two women with plotting to steal a full-term unborn baby from its mother's body. Police in Blue Springs, Mo., east of Kansas City, said an 18-year-old woman who was nine months pregnant met Monday with two women she had met on the Internet. The woman, whose name was not released, is unemployed and had made an appeal for baby clothes, the Kansas City (Mo.) ... [full story]