News-Saturday, June 16th

BAGHDAD (AP) - The I-D cards of two U-S soldiers missing in Iraq since a May ambush have been found. The military says they were discovered in an al-Qaida in Iraq safe house north of Baghdad. The body of a third soldier taken in the attack was found in the Euphrates river last month.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The State Department says it's studying how to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Aides to Abbas say the U-S is offering to
end an international aid embargo against the Palestinians once he forms a government minus Hamas now controls the Gaza Strip, while Abbas' Fatah party is holding on to power in the West Bank.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Closing statements are under way in the ethics trial Durham County D-A Mike Nifong. A North Carolina bar prosecutor says Nifong acted "as a minister of injustice" and wove "web of deception" in his effort to convict three Duke lacrosse players in a rape case. Nifong could lose his law license.

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - President Bush is warning Congress not to get carried away with its spending. The House passed a budget for Homeland Security yesterday that was two (b) billion dollars more than the president's request. In his weekly radio address, Bush warned that he would veto any bill that he believes spends too much.

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) - They are back on the course in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, but some big names will be missing from the U-S Open leader board. Phil Mickelson missed the cut by one stroke, failing to qualify for the first time in 31 majors. Also out are Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Retief Goosen, Davis Love the Third and Justin Leonard.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A funeral will be held later this morning for the five children who died in a row house fire in Pittsburgh earlier this week. Siblings Dezekiah Holyfield, Cedano Holyfield and Daekia Holyfield all died, as did another set of siblings, Andre Rankin and Azquel Rankin. They were between three- and seven years old. Officials say the blaze broke out early Tuesday morning when children playing with matches lit furnishings on fire. Two eight-year-old boys escaped.

YORK, Pa. (AP) - Have a seat- or 52-hundred of them! A high school senior sat in all 52-hundred seats at York's Sovereign Bank Stadium, the new home of the York Revolution minor
league baseball team. It took about three hours for 17-year-old Todd McCormick to
perform the stunt before the Revolution's inaugural game yesterday. The Revolution ended up losing to the Newark Bears, 7-to-4. It was the first professional baseball game in the city in 38
years.

FREDERICKSBURG, Pa. (AP) - State police say a dog kennel caught fire on a Lebanon County farm, killing 18 puppies. The cause is being investigated by the state police fire marshal's unit. One puppy survived. Police say the fire in Bethel Township was first reported to the
kennel owner by a passer-by around 8 o'clock Thursday night. Police report there was a "burn pit" being used near the kennel.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The big story for "Action News" yesterday was ... a water-main break that flooded their T-V station. The flood forced news staff to evacuate W-P-V-I in Philadelphia
for more than two hours. A Channel 6 spokeswoman says a construction crew working on the
A-B-C affiliate's new studio hit a six-inch main, sending as much as 100-thousand gallons of water into the building. It happened shortly after the noon news broadcast. Staff considered hosting the evening news outside until 3:30 p-m, when the Fire Department allowed them to re-enter the building.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Proposals by Governor Ed Rendell to expand the use of alternative energy and fuels and encourage conservation are scheduled for votes in the House of
Representatives next week. The bills, however, likely face a much longer road in the
Senate. Some senators wonder whether it's necessary to introduce an electricity tax to fund alternative energy and conservation programs. And they question whether an ethanol fuel requirement will hurt ranchers who use corn for feed, and create more smog than
conventional fuels. Together, the bills comprise the biggest parts of Rendell's "Energy Independence Strategy," which was first unveiled in February. Its goals are to counter rising fuel and electricity prices, and help create homegrown industries.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - An Egyptian man living in Lancaster has won a reprieve against U-S government efforts to deport him. A judge says he needs more time to consider claims by Sameh Khouzam that he will be tortured if he's returned to Egypt. Khouzam is a Coptic Christian. That religious group is oppressed in Egypt. Khouzam was convicted in absentia of a woman's murder in Egypt nearly a decade ago. His supporters contend that the Egyptian
government is using the murder as an excuse to get him deported so he can be tortured. They say his deportation would violate a treaty against deporting people to countries where torture is likely. U-S immigration officials say they're satisfied with assurances from Egyptian diplomats that Khouzam won't be tortured.

UNDATED (AP) - Floyd Landis says the U-S Anti-Doping Agency spent so much money in an obsessed mission to nail him for drug violations that it passed on prosecuting other cases.
The Lancaster County native makes that claim in a book that's due for release a week from Tuesday. Landis' book is titled "Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France." He wrote it with the help of a co-author. The book documents his career, his one-time partnership with Lance Armstrong, and his stirring comeback victory at last year's Tour de France. He then goes on to describe his struggle to retain the title in the wake of charges he used synthetic testosterone to win cycling's biggest race. An arbitration panel is still looking into the doping agency's allegations.