2008 now deadliest year for U.S. in Afghanistan

2008 now deadliest year for U.S. in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents killed two U.S. troops in Afghanistan on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks Thursday, making 2008 the deadliest year for American forces since U.S. troops invaded the country in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden.

The deaths brought the number of troops who have died in Afghanistan this year to 113, according to an Associated Press tally, surpassing last year’s record toll of 111.

Afghanistan was the launching pad for al-Qaida’s terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001. U.S. forces invaded in October 2001 in response and quickly drove the Taliban out of power.

Navy commander: Russian bombers no threat to U.S.

ABOARD THE USS KEARSARGE — The commander of the U.S. Navy’s Fourth Fleet said Thursday his forces were keeping an eye on Russian Blackjack bombers that have landed in Venezuela for training exercises — but he dismissed the deployment as a major challenge to the United States.

The arrival of Russian Tu-160 bombers was the first such deployment to the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War and seemed certain to further strain Russia’s relations with the United States. It came after the U.S. sent warships to deliver aid to U.S.-allied Georgia after its war last month with Russia.

But Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan said the Fourth Fleet had no immediate plans to change its operations because of the bombers.

Last of 40 jury prospects approved in Simpson trial

LOS ANGELES — The judge in the robbery and kidnapping trial of O.J. Simpson and a co-defendant approved the last of 40 jury prospects Thursday, including a man who wrote on his jury questionnaire that the former football star was “a murderer and got away with it.”

Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass told lawyers to return later in the day to exercise peremptory challenges and choose the final 12 jurors and six alternates.

Defense attorneys clashed with the judge in the final hours of four days of jury questioning when she refused to remove a retired policeman who repeatedly said Simpson was a murderer. He said he filled his questionnaire with such statements for shock value.

“I wanted to scare you so I wouldn’t have to be here,” he told defense attorney Gabriel Grasso. “I was hoping they would say, ‘Oh, this guy is crazy,’ and they would move on.”

U.S. ambassador expelled

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez says the U.S. ambassador has 72 hours to leave Venezuela, and he’s recalling his ambassador from Washington.

Chavez said he’s asking U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave as a means of showing solidarity with Bolivian President Evo Morales, who expelled Washington’s envoy in La Paz.

“They’re trying to do here what they were doing in Bolivia,” Chavez said. “That’s enough ... from you, Yankees,” he said, using an expletive.

Landslide kills 151 in China

XIANGFEN, China — A landslide that unleashed a three-story wave of mud and iron ore waste at an illegal mining operation in China has killed at least 151 people, and authorities fear the death toll could climb by hundreds more, state media said Thursday.

In a matter of minutes, the sludge inundated an entire village of 1,000 people and an outdoor market with hundreds of customers Monday in Shanxi province’s Xiangfen county, the China Daily newspaper reported, citing witnesses.

Associated Press