Tue Jan 17 2006
Hit count for 2005 was 24-million-plus

add 4pm

Jill Carroll's kidnappers demand release of female prisoners
The kidnappers who abducted an American journalist demanded Tuesday that the United States release all female Iraqi prisoners within 72 hours, according to a video aired by Al-Jazeera.

Domestic spying draws two lawsuits
Two leading civil rights groups plan to file lawsuits today against the Bush administration over its domestic spying program

Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Kobi, a golden retriever, achieved high marks in a cancer-detection experiment conducted at the Pine Street Clinic in San Anselmo, Calif.
Dogs excel at finding cancer by smell
A little-known Northern California clinic claims it has trained five dogs to detect lung cancer in the breath of lung cancer sufferers with 99 percent accuracy

Washington Times
Mexican military incursions into US reported
The U.S. Border Patrol has warned agents in Arizona of incursions into the United States by Mexican soldiers "trained to escape, evade and counterambush" if detected -- a scenario Mexico denied yesterday.
[A Border Patrol spokesman] "...added that although incursions by the Mexican military do occur, they usually have taken place in areas of the border "not marked by monuments or signs." He said U.S. military units also have crossed mistakenly into Mexico.

New Orleans mayor: God mad at USA, hurricanes were punishment
"Surely He doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses..."