Record cocaine shipment seized in Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Fifteen tons of cocaine were seized in southwest Colombia, the largest haul ever in this South American country, police said Saturday. The $400 million worth of cocaine was discovered by authorities Thursday hidden in a wood-lined underground chamber near the Pacific coast. Found nearby were eight speed boats that likely would have been used to move the cocaine, originally estimated at 13.8 tons, to the United States.

Muslims angry over Quran desecration

SAN'A, Yemen -- Yemen's government and thousands of university students on Saturday added their voices to the Muslim world's anger over alleged desecration of Islam's holy book, the Quran, by U.S. troops at the Guantanamo detention facility. The Arab League, based in Egypt, also issued a statement saying if the allegations panned out, Washington should apologize to Muslims. In Afghanistan, where recent protests against the reported desecration left 15 people dead, President Hamid Karzai blamed the violence on opponents trying to tarnish the country's image. Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, called for a thorough investigation. Newsweek magazine reported that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed Qurans in washrooms to unsettle suspects, and "flushed a holy book down the toilet."

Indonesia finds bird flu in pigs on Java Island

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian researchers have found a strain of bird flu in pigs on the densely populated island of Java, raising fears the virus could more easily spread to humans in the country, the government and scientists said Saturday. The strain found in the pigs was H5N1, which has jumped from chickens to humans elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Pigs, which are genetically similar to people, often carry the human influenza virus. Experts worry that pigs infected with both bird flu and its human equivalent could act as a "mixing bowl," resulting in a more dangerous, mutant virus that might spread to people more easily -- and then from person to person.

Senate panel approves boost in defense bill

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee approved on Friday a $441.6 billion defense bill for fiscal 2006 that envisions spending an additional $50 billion next year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill authorizes spending boosts for military force protection gear, pay and benefits for personnel, new technology and vehicles. Congress had approved on Tuesday an additional $82 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to combat terror worldwide, boosting the cost of the global effort since 2001 to more than $300 billion.

Friends, family gather for funeral of slain Illinois girl

WINTHROP HARBOR, Ill. --Mourners read poems and told stories about Krystal Tobias Saturday at the funeral for the second-grader killed with her best friend last week. More than 300 family, friends and neighbors gathered at a small Baptist church. Tobias, 9, and Laura Hobbs, 8, were found stabbed to death early Monday in a park near their homes in Zion. Authorities on Tuesday charged Hobbs' father, 34-year-old Jerry Hobbs, with first-degree murder in the slayings, saying he confessed to beating and stabbing the children on Mother's Day.

Runaway bride finds fame in dolls, sauce, even toast

ATLANTA -- Maybe hot sauce is the cure for cold feet. "Jennifer's High Tailin' Hot Sauce," a nod to the saga of runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks, has sold briskly since its debut Wednesday. And Herobuilders.com, a Danbury, Conn.-based manufacturer, has sold out of its first batch of Runaway Bride action figures. The foot-tall figures feature a dark-haired woman in jogging pants with a colorful towel similar to the one Wilbanks wore over her head. Wilbanks items have also flooded eBay since a man auctioned off a slice of toast carved with a drawing of the runaway bride.