Searchers recover body of Macedonian president

Searchers recover bodyof Macedonian president
BITONJA, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Search parties recovered the body of Macedonia's president and eight others killed in a plane crash in a remote and mountainous corner of Bosnia, the Macedonian government said.
Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski, a 47-year-old moderate who helped unite his ethnically divided Balkan country, was killed when his twin-engine turboprop crashed Thursday in thick fog en route to an international investment conference in the southern Bosnian city of Mostar. Six other Macedonian officials and the plane's two pilots also died.
A search helicopter spotted the wreckage today in a remote area outside the village of Huskovici, about 50 miles south of Sarajevo, said Capt. Dave Sullivan of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia
Explosives experts were called in to clear a path to the scene, which was heavily mined from Bosnia's 1992-95 war. The wreckage was strewn over 200 yards, government spokesman Saso Colakovski said, citing information from a 20-member Macedonian delegation at the scene of the crash.
Trajkovski, 47, was widely respected for his neutral stance in the former Yugoslav republic, where tensions persist between Macedonians and the country's ethnic Albanian minority after a 2001 war. He had called for a great inclusion of ethnic Albanians in state bodies and institutions.
Subpoenas issuedfor abortion records
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has subpoenaed hundreds of medical records from six Planned Parenthood sites as part of the government's defense in lawsuits challenging the Partial-Birth Abortion Act.
According to court documents, Justice Department lawyers say the records -- which would be edited to remove names and other personal information -- are essential to defend the law against the lawsuits brought by Planned Parenthood and doctor groups around the country.
The suits challenge the law that prohibits a procedure referred to by critics as partial-birth abortion but by medical organizations as "intact dilation and extraction." During the procedure, a fetus's legs and torso are pulled from the uterus before its skull is punctured.
Planned Parenthood has resisted producing the medical records, which critics of the subpoenas say threatens the privacy of patients and could intimidate doctors and clinics that provide abortions.
"We believe it is an invasion of confidential medical records," Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Elizabeth Toledo said Thursday. "People ought to have a reasonable expectation of privacy."
Toledo said several hundred records were being sought from Planned Parenthood affiliates that serve western Pennsylvania; San Diego; Los Angeles; New York City; Kansas/Mid-Missouri; and the Washington metro area. The Justice Department is focusing on those to produce a geographic sample and because many of Planned Parenthood's expert witnesses work at the six sites.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, founded in 1916 and based in New York, runs 900 health centers in 49 states and serves about 5 million people each year.
FDA approves drugto fight colon cancer
SAN FRANCISCO -- Genentech Inc. began shipping its widely anticipated colon cancer-fighting drug just hours after the government approved the novel biotechnology treatment.
Avastin is designed to choke the blood supply that feeds tumors and is the first drug of its kind to be approved by the FDA. When used with chemotherapy, it has been found to extend the life of the sickest patients by an average of about five months.
Some 30 other experimental drugs based on similar technology are in various states of human testing, and large drug makers such as Novartis, Bayer and Pfizer are in advanced development. Genentech also said it's experimenting with Avastin in several other forms of cancer, including kidney and lung.
Judge throws out chargeagainst Martha Stewart
NEW YORK -- A federal judge threw out the most serious charge against Martha Stewart today just before her trial goes to a jury.
The securities fraud charge accused Stewart of deceiving investors in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, by lying about her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock.
U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum left intact four other charges against the celebrity homemaker -- conspiracy, obstruction of justice and two counts of lying to investigators.
The judge declined to throw out any of the five charges against Stewart's former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic.
Associated Press