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02-18-2006

Philippines Landslide Death Toll at 1,800

A small child is carried from a landslide on Leyte island in the eastern Philippines Friday, Feb. 17, 2006. A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of mud on Friday, burying hundreds of houses and an elementary school in the eastern Philippines. Ten people were confirmed dead, and at least 1,500 were missing. (AP Photo/ABS CBN via APTN)

GUINSAUGON, Philippines (AP) _ Rescue workers held little hope Saturday of finding more survivors from a devastating landslide that killed an estimated 1,800 people, saying this farming village in the eastern Philippines was swallowed whole by a wall of mud and boulders. Survivors and others blamed persistent rains and illegal logging for Friday's disaster.

Cheers Greet Cheney at Appearance in Wyo.

Vice President Dick Cheney addresses a joint session of the Wyoming Legislature at the Capitol in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Friday, Feb. 17, 2006. It was Cheney's first public event since he accidentally shot 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington while aiming for a quail last weekend. Listening in the background is Senate President Grant Larson. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) _ His face marked with tiny birdshot wounds, the lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney while quail hunting left a hospital Friday, saying "accidents do and will happen" and apologizing for the trouble the incident had caused the vice president. "My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with," Harry Whittington said, his voice a bit raspy but strong in his first comments since being shot on a South Texas ranch six days earlier.

Nine Killed in Libyan Cartoon Protest

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, right, talks as Northern League party's Reforms and Devolution minister Roberto Calderoli looks on, during a press conference to present an electoral agreement between Northern league and Movement for Autonomy in Rome, in this photo taken Wednesday Feb. 8, 2006 file photo. According to reports Friday Feb. 17, 2006, Berlusconi asked Calderoli to "resign immediately" from his post, after the minister was seen on television allegedly wearing a T-shirt featuring the Prophet Muhammad cartoons that sparked violent protests around the world. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) _ Libyans protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad set fire to the Italian consulate in Benghazi on Friday and clashed with police in a riot that killed at least nine people, an Italian diplomat said. Libyan state television showed a part of the consulate on fire, and firefighters trying to extinguish it as ambulances took casualties away in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, about 400 miles east of the capital Tripoli.

Rumsfeld Says U.S. Will Not Close Gitmo

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld gestures while speaking Friday Feb. 17, 2006 at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Al-Qaida and other Islamic extremist groups have poisoned the Muslim public's view of the United States through deft use of the Internet and other modern communications methods that the American government has failed to master, Rumsfeld said Friday. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Pentagon will not close its Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorist suspects, despite U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call to shut it down, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday. "He's just flat wrong," Rumsfeld said in response to a question about the controversial prison during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations. "We shouldn't close Guantanamo. We have several hundred terrorists _ bad people, people that if let back out on the field would try to kill Americans. That's just a fact."

Sweden Topples U.S. Women's Hockey Team

Sweden's Maria Rooth (7) scores the game-winning goal in a shoot out past the United States goalie Chanda Gunn during a 2006 Winter Olympics women's ice hockey semifinal game Friday, Feb. 17, 2006, in Turin, Italy. (AP Photo/Julie Jacoson)(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

TURIN, Italy (AP) _ The U.S. women's hockey players gathered in a circle at center ice, raised their sticks and waved them to their fans in one sweeping arc over their heads. It was a routine repeated game after game after game in these Olympics and before, but this time was different. You could see it in their eyes, red with tears and looking at anything but the giant group hug being staged by the exuberant, wiggling heap of yellow jerseys behind them.

Two U.S. Marines Choppers Crash Off Africa

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Two Marine Corps transport helicopters carrying a dozen troops crashed Friday off the coast of Djibouti, and two were rescued in the initial search, the Pentagon said. The status of the other 10 aboard the CH-53E choppers was not immediately known, officials said.

Jury Clears Merck in Vioxx Federal Trial

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ A federal jury handed Merck & Co. a major victory on Friday, clearing the drug maker of any responsibility in the death of a 53-year-old Florida man who had a heart attack after taking its once popular painkiller Vioxx for less than a month. This was the second court victory for Merck, and the first in a federal court. The company had argued in this case that plaintiff lawyers never proved any link between Vioxx and the heart attack Richard "Dickey" Irvin suffered in 2001. Merck's lawyers contended Irvin's age, gender and diet all put him at risk for heart attacks

Woman's Natural Estrogen Tied to Stroke

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) _ Women who have higher natural estrogen levels also may have a higher risk of stroke _ a novel finding that suggests a possible new way to prevent this deadly disease, doctors reported Friday. More study is needed to confirm these results, but they fit with much of what is already known about hormones, said several experts who were not connected with the new work.

Isaac Mizrahi Defends Red-Carpet Behavior

Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi interviews actress Anne Hathaway for" E!" during arrivals at the Golden Globe Awards Monday, Jan. 16, 2006, in Los Angeles. E! correspondent Mizrahi is defending his bold behavior on the carpet, where he groped Scarlett Johansson's breast and asked Eva Longoria about her pubic hair. He returns to the red carpet March 5 for the Academy Awards. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Get over it, says Isaac Mizrahi. The fashion designer turned red-carpet renegade has no plans to soften his act come Oscar night March 5. "I am going to meet people and I love doing that, and I'm not going to put a mask on to meet people now because of whatever interesting controversy was raised at the Golden Globes," Mizrahi told The Associated Press in an interview this week.

Barkley Among 16 Hall of Fame Finalists

Former NBA player Charles Barkley, center, answers media questions during the NBA All Star weekend in Houston, Friday, Feb. 17, 2006. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

HOUSTON (AP) _ Moments after he was chosen as a finalist for the Basketball Hall of Fame, Charles Barkley lobbied all 24 voters to elect Dominique Wilkins. "Dominique should have got in last year," Barkley said Friday after the 16 finalists for the Class of 2006 were announced.

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