■ United States
`Freedom Tower' rises
Two 25-tonne steel columns -- one bearing signatures of American steelworkers who helped make it -- rose at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, a milestone in prolonged efforts to build the skyscraper that will replace the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As construction workers, politicians and architects applauded, a massive crane lifted the first, 9.3m-high column, which was painted with a US flag and the words "Freedom Tower" and set it over steel bars on the southern edge of the tower's base on Tuesday.
■ United States
Iraq deadliest for journalists
Iraq was by far the deadliest country for journalists this year, with most of the 32 killed there targeted by insurgents, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said yesterday. An analysis by the media watchdog found that 55 journalists were killed as a direct result of their work there this year, up from 47 last year. The group is still investigating whether another 27 deaths were work-related. Afghanistan and the Philippines, which each had three journalists killed, were the most dangerous datelines after Iraq. Two reporters were killed in Russia, Mexico, Pakistan and Colombia.
■ United States
This crack just isn't good
A North Carolina woman was arrested after she complained to a police officer about a batch of "bad" crack cocaine she bought, authorities said on Monday. Eloise Reaves, 50, approached a police officer on Friday in the parking lot of a convenience store in Putnam County and told him she had been sold poor quality crack and wanted his help getting her money back, police said in a statement. "She then took the crack from out of her mouth and placed it on the trunk of Deputy Pedrick's patrol car," police said. The sheriff's deputy, Jeffery Pedrick, warned Reaves that if the substance tested positive, she would be arrested.
■ United States
No baptism for Wiesenthal
In life, Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal was among the most famous Jews of the 20th century. In death, he wound up on a list of people eligible to be posthumously baptized as Mormons so they could enter heaven. Bowing to protests from Jewish groups, The Church of Latter Day Saints said on Tuesday that it had removed Wiesenthal's name from its International Genealogical Index, a database of names of people who be could be baptized after death. "From their point of view they thought they were doing him a favor by making sure he can get into heaven. For us, it is very offensive ... I don't think he needs help getting into heaven," Rabbi Marvin Heir said.
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