Sen. Stevens indicted

Sen. Stevens indicted

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Stevens, the nation’s longest-serving Republican senator and a major figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, was indicted Tuesday on seven counts of failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in services from an oil services company that helped renovate his home.

The first sitting U.S. senator to face federal indictment since 1993, Stevens has been dogged by an investigation into his home renovation project in Alaska and his dealings with wealthy oil contractors.

Stevens’ indictment further damages Republican prospects in the November elections as Senate Democrats, who now enjoy a 51-49 majority, try to capture a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Ex-mayor sentenced

NEWARK, N.J. — Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison Tuesday for his role in the cut-rate sales of city land to his former mistress.

U.S. District Judge William Martini gave James 27 months and ordered him to pay a $100,000 fine, but did not require him to pay restitution to the city.

The 72-year-old former mayor apologized to the city and his family before sentencing.

Street-racing indictments

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Two men were indicted Tuesday in the deaths of eight people killed when a car plowed into them as they gathered to watch an illegal street race in suburban Maryland.

Darren Bullock, 20, and Tavon Taylor, 18, were each charged with eight counts of vehicular manslaughter, as well as reckless driving and street racing, in the Feb. 16 crash.

Earthquake hits California

LOS ANGELES — The strongest earthquake to strike a populated area of Southern California in more than a decade rattled windows and chandeliers, made buildings sway and sent people running into the streets Tuesday. But there were no immediate reports of serious injuries or major damage.

The 5.4-magnitude quake — considered moderate — was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and as far east as Las Vegas, 230 miles away. Nearly 30 aftershocks quickly followed, the largest estimated at 3.8.

The quake was centered 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles near Chino Hills.

Serb extremists protest

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serb ultranationalists crowded a main square Tuesday night to protest the government’s plan to extradite former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal, while a few hundred extremists clashed with riot police.

While most of the 15,000 demonstrators sang nationalist songs and waved posters of their “Serb Hero,” some hard-liners broke away from the gathering and threw rocks and burning flares at police in downtown Belgrade.

Karadzic faces 11 charges at the U.N. tribunal, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide.

Shift in war deaths

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Nearly twice as many U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan as in Iraq so far this month, marking the lowest death toll of the Iraq war and the first time that the American military has suffered more casualties in Afghanistan than it has in Iraq.

As of Tuesday, 11 U.S. service members had been killed in Iraq and 20 in Afghanistan in July, according to icasualties.org, which tracks coalition casualties in both wars.

In all, 29 NATO and U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan this month. The American military is debating shifting more troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Combined dispatches