• Texas executes immigrant after winning court fight 8/7/2008, 7:39 p.m. EDT
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — An illegal immigrant who claimed his treaty rights were violated when he was arrested for a robbery and murder has been executed in Texas.

• Doctor pleads not guilty to abusing patients in LA 8/7/2008, 7:35 p.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A physician whose father is the leader of Bermuda pleaded not guilty Thursday to sexually abusing patients.

• US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,134 8/7/2008, 7:34 p.m. EDT
(AP) — As of Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008, at least 4,134 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

• McCain campaign to return 50K in donations 8/7/2008, 7:31 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain's campaign said Thursday it is returning $50,000 in contributions solicited by a foreign citizen.

• 'Road rage' was motive in Fla. federal agent's death 8/7/2008, 7:24 p.m. EDT
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (AP) — A man charged with killing a federal agent was late for an appointment and driving erratically when the confrontation erupted, police said Thursday.

• Ex-Olympics sprinter gets 21 years in NY rape case 8/7/2008, 7:23 p.m. EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — A former Olympic sprinter has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a woman in a New York park.

• New shooting reported in Georgia's South Ossetia 8/7/2008, 7:21 p.m. EDT
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The capital of the separatist South Ossetia region came under heavy fire early Friday, just hours after Georgia's president declared a cease-fire following days of sporadic fighting.

• Detroit mayor thrown in jail after bond violation 8/7/2008, 7:18 p.m. EDT
DETROIT (AP) — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was jailed Thursday for a bond violation in his perjury case, his pleas for leniency rejected by a judge who made it clear the mayor would get no special treatment.

• Flight attendant: Osteen's wife pushed co-worker 8/7/2008, 7:17 p.m. EDT
HOUSTON (AP) — The wife of evangelical pastor Joel Osteen got physical when her demands that a small spill on her seat be cleaned up were not immediately met, a flight attendant testified Thursday at a civil trial over the incident.

• Search on for 9 victims in wildfire chopper crash 8/7/2008, 7:17 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Fire raging through rugged, dense terrain complicated efforts Thursday to recover victims and evidence from a remote forested area in Northern California where a firefighting helicopter crashed. Nine people were presumed dead, but four others were rescued.

• Iraqis: Deal close on plan for US troops to leave 8/7/2008, 7:17 p.m. EDT
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed.

• Gitmo jury gives bin Laden driver 5 1/2 years 8/7/2008, 7:17 p.m. EDT
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — A U.S. military jury gave Osama bin Laden's driver a surprisingly light sentence on Thursday, making him eligible for release in just five months despite the prosecutors' request for at least a 30-year sentence to deter would-be terrorists.

• 32 research monkeys overheat, die at Nevada lab 8/7/2008, 7:09 p.m. EDT
SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — A drug research company says a roomful of research monkeys quarantined at its lab in Sparks, Nev., were accidentally killed in May due to overheating.

• Police raid Md. mayor's home and kill his dogs 8/7/2008, 7:09 p.m. EDT
BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) — Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table.

• Man held in Fla. on charge of threatening Obama 8/7/2008, 7:07 p.m. EDT
MIAMI (AP) — A man who authorities said was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car appeared in court Thursday on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

• Feds investigate if Rockefeller was German student 8/7/2008, 7:00 p.m. EDT
BERLIN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut family is convinced that the mysterious man accused of kidnapping his daughter in Boston and wanted for questioning in the 1985 disappearance of a California couple was a German student who lived with his family decades ago.

• Former child workers describe perilous environment 8/7/2008, 6:56 p.m. EDT
POSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Luisa Lopez says no one asked about her age when she started working at the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant. She was 17, and within days she was on a fast-moving poultry production line, wielding a long, sharp pair of scissors.

• Katrina survivors' caretaker charged in abduction 8/7/2008, 6:53 p.m. EDT
HOUSTON (AP) — A woman was arrested and charged with kidnapping Thursday after authorities say she was on the run for a month with five children she took in after Hurricane Katrina.

• Official says new rules are not anti-birth control 8/7/2008, 6:41 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt attempted to ease concerns Thursday that the Bush administration is planning to issue new rules that would limit women's access to birth control.

• McCain calls for probe of company he once aided 8/7/2008, 6:39 p.m. EDT
WILMINGTON, Ohio (AP) — Republican John McCain called Thursday for a federal investigation into plans by the DHL shipping company that could cost 10,000 jobs here, as he and his campaign manager took criticism for helping DHL complete a merger in 2003 that led to its current plans.

• Judge says Indians owed $455M in trust case 8/7/2008, 6:32 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Thursday that American Indian plaintiffs are entitled to $455 million in a long-running trust case, a fraction of the $47 billion they wanted.

• Families with children from China embracing Games 8/7/2008, 6:26 p.m. EDT
(AP) — For 11-year-old Nicole Stevens, the Olympics in Beijing are more than a showcase of the world's best athletes. They're a portal to her birth country and a chance to learn more about modern day China.

• '60s songwriter Erik Darling dies at 74 8/7/2008, 6:24 p.m. EDT
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Erik Darling, the reedy-voiced guitarist and banjo player who deftly stepped in when Pete Seeger left the pioneering folk music group The Weavers, has died after battling lymphoma. He was 74.

• ACLU ends its legal challenge to DNC restrictions 8/7/2008, 6:23 p.m. EDT
DENVER (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday it will not appeal a federal judge's ruling that upheld the city's decision to limit protests during the Democratic National Convention to a fenced-in demonstration zone, and to end all marches more than a quarter-mile from the site.

• Trash soils Bush pledge to protect islands 8/7/2008, 6:17 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two years ago with fanfare, President Bush declared a remote chain of Hawaiian islands the biggest, most environmentally protected area of ocean in the world.