U.S. military personnel fired on in Saudi capital

U.S. military personnelfired on in Saudi capital
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Gunmen attacked American military personnel in the capital Riyadh today, slightly injuring the driver, while police killed two militants in an unrelated incident in the kingdom's west.
A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified one of the dead as Abdul Rahman Mohammed Yazji, No. 25 on a list of Saudi Arabia's 26 most-wanted militants. The other man could not be immediately identified.
A brief U.S. Embassy statement said shots were fired this morning on two vehicles carrying U.S. military personnel near a Saudi National Guard compound where a U.S. training unit is based.
The convoy returned immediately to the compound. The statement said a driver, whose nationality was not given, was slightly injured. It was not clear if the driver was shot.
In Taif, 465 miles southwest of Riyadh and just south of the holy city of Mecca, the Saudi security official said the two militants opened fire from their car at a security checkpoint Tuesday evening. One of the two men was disguised as a woman, he said.
Police said the two were killed today after an overnight standoff, though what happened between the shootings and their deaths was not clear.
Everglades brush fire closes Alligator Alley
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Part of Alligator Alley, one of two routes crossing the Florida Everglades, was closed Tuesday night when smoke from a 3,000-acre brush fire cut visibility to zero.
The 60-mile stretch of Interstate 75 in the middle of the state was closed at about 9 p.m., the Florida Highway Patrol said. Troopers didn't know when it would reopen.
"It's intense out here," FHP Lt. Roger Reyes told The Miami Herald. "Flames are shooting skyward [and] black smoke is billowing across the road."
The shutdown portion of the interstate ran from State Road 29 in Collier County in the west to U.S. 27 in Broward County in the east.
Houdini's secrets revealed
APPLETON, Wis. -- How did Harry Houdini do his signature "Metamorphosis" escape, the one where he was handcuffed inside a sack, locked in a trunk and yet somehow managed to switch places with an assistant on the outside?
To find out, all a fan or an aspiring illusionist has to do is go to a new exhibit opening today and climb inside the trunk.
That has some in the business tied up in knots.
Magicians say their code of ethics prohibits revealing secrets to the public. The famous and not-so-famous alike, including David Copperfield and Ronald "Rondini" Lindberg," have called the Outagamie Museum to protest its "A.K.A. Houdini" show.
"It's just that this is a very, very passionate thing that magicians feel about and what the museum is doing is wrong," said Lindberg of Appleton, a city of about 40,000 that Houdini considered his hometown.
Museum officials, on the other hand, insist the exhibit -- set to run for 10 years -- doesn't reveal anything not already available in books and on the Internet. They also say people will appreciate magic more by knowing the secrets.
In favor of royal marriage
LONDON -- Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey believes Prince Charles and his longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles should get married, according to an interview published today.
"He is heir to the throne and he loves her," Carey told The Times newspaper in an interview published today. "The natural thing is that they should get married."
Charles' office has said repeatedly that he has no plans to marry.
The Church of England has stayed neutral on a marriage between Parker Bowles and Charles, who divorced Diana, Princess of Wales, before her death in 1997. It's a sensitive issue because Charles would be the supreme governor of the church if he succeeds to the throne, and some Anglicans remain opposed to remarriage of divorcees.
Magazine model shot
NEW YORK -- A young model who moved to the city to pursue an acting career was shot in the shoulder by an apparent stranger Tuesday while she sipped a soda on the subway.
Monica Meadows, 22, who appeared recently on an episode of the NBC crime drama "Law & amp; Order: Criminal Intent," was hospitalized in stable condition, authorities said. No arrests had been made.
Police said that they believe Meadows was an unintended victim in a possible dispute. The catalog and magazine model was seated, and "was sipping a cup of soda, and next thing witnesses knew, someone got up and fired a shot," police spokesman Paul Browne said.
Associated Press