Aide: Iraqi PM's Comments Misconstrued

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister was misunderstood when he said the Americans could leave "any time they want" an aide said Sunday, as politicians moved to end a pair of boycotts that are holding up work on crucial political reforms sought by Washington.

In Baghdad, a car bomb hit a central square in a Shiite neighborhood, killing 10 people and wounding 25. Police said 22 bullet-riddled bodies were found across the capital Sunday, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.

The U.S. military said an American soldier from the 13th Sustainment Command was killed Saturday when a bomb exploded near his supply convoy near Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told …

Final exec faces sentence in US firm's $275M bust

Donald McQuade skipped lobster dinners and long vacations for decades, pouring every dollar he saved into a little South Carolina company that offered returns close to 10 percent by loaning to people who could not borrow anywhere else.

By the time he turned 75, McQuade was a millionaire. Then, on one horrible day back in the spring of 2003, he realized it was all gone.

On Tuesday, a judge will sentence the final executive convicted in the scheme _ the $275 million collapse of Carolina Investors and parent company HomeGold Financial Inc. Former HomeGold Chief Financial Officer Karen Miller faces up to five years in prison. She cooperated with authorities and …

Guards Held In Jailbreak By Drug Boss // 3 Were Paid to Aid Escape: Sheriff

As many as three Cook County Jail correctional officers may havehelped accused drug dealer Erdogan Kurap escape and one was offered$50,000 to $100,000 to do it, Sheriff Michael F. Sheahan said Friday.

The Thursday escape "was bought and paid for with drug money,that's what we believe," Sheahan said.

While Sheahan would provide no further details, one of thecorrectional officers being questioned Friday was hired despite hisfailure of a written exam for job applicants. That guard was one ofmany who apparently were hired in a test-rigging scheme duringthen-Sheriff James E. O'Grady's tenure, according to disclosures infederal court this week.

One of the …

GOP presidential debate set for January in SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The Southern Republican Leadership Conference is teaming up with CNN to host a Republican presidential town hall debate in Charleston next January.

The group said Thursday that the debate will take place Jan. 19 in Charleston at the same time the leadership conference meets in the city.

The …

India: Decades of Olympic mediocrity

It has more than a billion people, a population wild about sports and an athletic tradition that stretches back for centuries. So how is India, a nation always comparing itself to China, looking toward the Beijing Olympics?

"With a great deal of dismay, I have to say," said Sukhwant Basra, a prominent sports writer who covers India's Olympic tennis team _ a group best known at home for the sniping between its male doubles partners.

When it comes to the Olympics, India has long been a laggard. The last time around, in Athens, it earned just one medal _ a silver in shooting _ and it has been nearly three decades since India took home a gold. In …

Clinton advised Blair before war, reports say British leader sought help in dealing with Chilean president

British Prime Minister Tony Blair sought advice during the buildupto the war in Iraq from former President Bill Clinton, according topublished reports.

Seeking a way to break the diplomatic impasse between Europe andthe United States, Blair invited Clinton to his country home inBritain the weekend of March 8, less than two weeks before the warbegan, the Guardian of London reported. Despite the close bondbetween Blair and the Bush White House, Blair and Clinton met atleast three times to discuss the war, the report said.

Blair was fighting to persuade the Chilean President Ricardo Lagos--a key vote on the Security Council--to back a second UN resolutionsetting a new …

The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II

Varied Fare

The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II. Donovan Webster. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 371 pages; photographs; index; maps; notes; $25.

The Burma Road is the story of the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater in World War II.

The author, Donovan Webster, is a gifted storyteller who has written a compelling narrative that engages and educates the reader.

This book includes anecdotes from infantrymen on both sides, memories of conversations among generals and soldiers, letters to family members and daily journal entries. All are used to lend another dimension to the CBI, putting a human face on the otherwise anonymous …