■ United States
Iraq hurting terror war: poll
A growing number of Americans fear the war in Iraq is undermining the fight against terrorism and raising the risk of terrorist attacks in the US, a poll found. Almost half, 47 percent, say the war in Iraq has hurt the fight against terrorism -- the highest number to say that since the war began in March 2003, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. And about the same number, 45 percent, said soon after the first round of subway bombings in London that the war in Iraq was raising the risk of terrorism in America. That's up from 36 percent last fall. But increased doubts about the effects of the Iraq War have significantly changed an overall support for the efforts to establish democracy in Iraq. About half the public, 52 percent, favors staying in Iraq until the country is stabilized and about the same number, 49 percent, support the decision to go to war.
■ United States
Man catches wedding ring
An 82-year-old man who went clamming in the Long Island Sound says he made the ultimate catch: the wedding ring he lost two years ago. Stewart Petrie says he found an incrusted ring mixed in with his clams Tuesday while he was clamming at the same spot where his ring slipped off his finger in July 2003. After his wife, Mary, scrubbed it with jewelry cleaner, they were able to read the inscription: "MPS to SJP 9-10-67." Her husband's eyes began to tear, she said.
■ United States
Shuttle `Discovery' to launch
The US space agency NASA began its countdown Saturday for tomorrow's rescheduled launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration started the countdown 70 hours before the targeted lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The countdown includes 28 hours of built-in hold time, NASA said, with the preferred launch time at 10:39am tomorrow.
■ United States
Pooch ID chips mandatory
Canine owners near San Francisco will be in the dog house if they don't obey a trend-setting requirement to implant pooches with identification microchips, police said Friday. Officials in the city of Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, are making it a crime not have high-tech dog tags imbedded under the skin of what the socially-sensitive here refer to as dog "companions." "This is a case where Oakland was ahead of the ball instead of behind it," said police Sergeant David Cronin, head of the animal services department, who helped draft the ordinance, which is in the process of being approved by the city.
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