National and International News-Thursday, Sept. 21st

UNDATED (AP) - Iraqi forces have taken over security in the second of the country's 18 provinces. The province (Dhi Qar) has largely been spared the sectarian violence that has gripped other parts of the country. The U-N says the number of Iraqi civilians killed in July and August was far greater than first estimated.

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Seven people have been sentenced to death for last November's deadly hotel bombings in Amman, Jordan. Only one person is in custody, an Iraqi woman who confessed on television but later recanted. Sixty people died in the blasts.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (AP) - The doors of the payload bay are closed, and the astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis are just awaiting final word from NASA. All signs point to a landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida next hour.

CHALMETTE, La. (AP) - The husband and wife owners of a Louisiana nursing home that flooded during Hurricane Katrina have been indicted on charges of negligent homicide and cruelty. Thirty-five patients at St. Rita's died. The nursing home was not evacuated.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters will learn their fate today for refusing to testify about their sources in a steroid probe. The government seeks 18 months in prison. The reporters have refused to say who leaked secret grand jury testimony from Barry Bonds and other athletes.