Pentagon plans test of anti-missile system

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon plans its sixth test of a ground-based anti-missile rocket on Friday.

The test is part of the military's efforts to develop systems to destroy an enemy's long-range missiles before they reach U.S. targets.

Friday's test will evaluate all of the interceptor's systems, including the sophisticated radar that tracks the incoming missile, the interceptor's guidance system and the "kill vehicle" designed to smash into the missile in space.

If everything goes as planned, the interceptor will destroy the dummy warhead about 140 miles above the Pacific. That has happened in three of the five previous tests.

Somali gunmen kill senior politician

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Gunmen on Wednesday stalked and killed the deputy chairman of a clan-based militia opposed to the transitional government that controls a section of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Witnesses said three gunmen opened fire without a word on Abdulkadir Nur Elmi, better known as Fiyambiroh, after he left his house.

One witness said the gunmen walked away calmly after the shooting "as though they had done nothing wrong."

Fiyambiroh served under warlord Musa Sude Yalahow, whose clan-based militia is part of the Somali Restoration and Reconciliation Council, a group of warlords who oppose the transitional government of President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan.

Scientist says Kosovo killings implicate Serbs

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- After weeks of survivor testimony, the U.N. war crimes tribunal listened Wednesday to a cold statistical analysis by an American scientist implicating Slobodan Milosevic's forces in the deaths of 10,000 Kosovo Albanians.

Hundreds of thousands of people were expelled during a four-month campaign of terror in Kosovo in 1999, researcher Patrick Ball said.

The former Yugoslav president claims they fled Albania and Macedonia to escape NATO bombing or threats by the Kosovo Liberation Army.

'Abby' letter writer accused of pornography

MILWAUKEE -- A man who wrote to "Dear Abby" for advice on how to handle his fantasies about having sex with girls was charged Wednesday with possessing child pornography after the columnist turned him in, authorities say.

Paul Weiser, 28, was charged with possession of child pornography.

"Dear Abby" columnist Jeanne Phillips, the daughter of the column's founder, Pauline Phillips, called police after receiving the letter.

Jeanne Phillips, who shares her mother's pen name Abigail Van Buren, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she agonized over whether to report Weiser, since the column's credibility is based on the anonymity given those seeking her advice.

-- From wire reports