Stories Making Headlines Today

President Bush heads to China today, where he'll meet with communist leaders and enjoy some Olympic action.  But it's not all fun and games.  Some of the president's final hours in Thailand have been spent at the US ambassador's residence in Bangkok.  There, he had lunch with nine Myanmar activists Bush described as "courageous people."  The president says he wanted to listen to their stories and get advice on how the US can help the cause in Myanmar.    Bush was also updated on Myanmar's recovery from May's devastating cyclone that killed more than 80,000 people.  The president also headed into Bangkok's slums where he visited the Mercy Centre, a safe haven for more than 4,000 street children.  Some of the toddlers were shy in his presence, so Bush prodded them to pose with him for a photograph.

First lady Laura Bush is urging China and other countries to join the US in imposing sanctions against Myanmar.  Her plea comes after meeting with some of the 38,000 refugees at a camp and health clinic run by a woman known as the "Mother Teresa of Burma."  Most are from an ethnic minority group that human rights organizations say is the target of an ongoing Myanmar military campaign marked by murder, rape and the razing of villages.  About 140,000 refugees live in camps along a Thailand-Myanmar border that is littered with land mines on the Myanmar side.  The US has taken in more than 21,000 refugees since 2005.
The Olympic flame has made one of its final relays on the eve of the Olympic Games opening ceremony as torchbearers carried it along the ancient Great Wall of China.  After a short ceremony, hundreds of fans waving yellow and red pompoms cheered on the first torchbearer, one of china's most famous test pilots.  The 15-minute run along the ancient bricks brought the torch one step closer to ending its long and contentious global tour.  It officially concludes tomorrow night with the lighting of the cauldron during the opening ceremonies of the 29th games in Beijing.

Now that he's been convicted of aiding terrorism, Salim Hamdan is likely to testify or provide a written statement asking for leniency when a sentencing hearing continues today.  Hamdan, who was once Osama bin Laden's driver, could spend the rest of his life in prison.  During the start of the sentencing phase Wednesday, a psychologist testified that Hamdan says the 9/11 attacks are 'hard on his soul' and that he wept when he saw videos of the planes crashing into buildings.  Prosecutions of other war crimes trials will proceed, while Hamdan's case is automatically appealed to a special military appeals court in Washington.  He can then appeal to US civilian courts as well.

Security officials say Pakistani troops have killed at least 25 militants in fighting near the Afghan border.  Two soldiers also died in the clashes in Loi Sam village in the Bajur tribal region.  The officials say the fighting broke out yesterday after some 200 pro-Taliban militants attacked a military checkpoint.  The officials, who included two army officers and an area intelligence official, spoke today on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.  All three said they received reports from local authorities about the causalities.  Pakistan's tribal regions are considered havens for Taliban and al-Qaida-linked fighters, many of whom are involved in attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.
Federal investigators are heading to a remote part of a Northern California forest where a helicopter crash may have killed as many as nine people.  Officials say the aircraft had just picked up 11 firefighters when the helicopter went down and caught fire Tuesday night.  Three firefighters and a pilot were flown to hospitals with severe burns.  The Trinity County sheriff's Department is leading the search for crash victims.  Eight firefighters and a second pilot remain missing and are feared dead.  The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the crash, is going to the scene.

Israel's prime minister is promising to free more than 150 Palestinian prisoners.  The pledge came after a meeting with President Mahmud Abbas, who is pushing for the release of imprisoned politicians, as well as hundreds of other with more than 20 years behind bars, woman and minors.  No agreement has been reached on who would be freed.  But it's a gesture meant to energize plodding peace talks, and it could also boost the prestige of the embattled Palestinian leader, whose Fatah movement is locked in a tense power struggle with the militant group Hamas.  Over the past week, tensions have flared again between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah, starting with a bombing in Gaza that killed five Hamas militants and a girl.

The government has released a stack of documents that is says shows that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was behind 5 2001 Anthrax deaths.  Ivins, who killed  himself last week, was described in the documents as the sole custodian of highly purified Anthrax spores with 'certain genetic mutations identical' to the poison used in the attacks.  But when pressed, US Attorney Jeffrey Taylor acknowledged that more than 100 people had access to the substance.  Investigators say they traced the type of envelopes used to send the deadly powder through the mail back to Ivins' Fort Detrick, Maryland, lab.  Ivins' attorney says the government is 'taking a weird guy and convicting him of mass murder' without real evidence.  Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa is calling for a congressional investigation.

A Michigan man is expected in court today after he was charged in Wisconsin with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide.  Authorities say 38-year-old Scott Johnson could face more charges, including sexual assault.  For now he's blamed in the killing of three teenagers and wounding of a 20-year-old at a popular swimming spot on the border with Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  Prosecutors say Johnson's plan was to take more lives, and that he'd stashed weapons and ammo in the woods over the past year.  Instead he apparently changed his mind and surrendered after an all-night manhunt.  He's being charged in Wisconsin since that's where the shots were fired from.  Michigan authorities may also file charges.

Texas authorities say a woman who opened her home to a family after Hurricane Katrina ahs run off with their five children.  The woman, Rhonda Tavey, told a Dallas TV station (WFAA) that she had taken the children for their own safety.  She says it's not kidnapping on her part, it's 'child abandonment on their part.'  Tavey is facing five counts of kidnapping.  She tells The Dallas Morning News she plans to turn herself in as soon as she talks to her attorney.  One prosecutor tells the Houston Chronicle that 'they were all one big happy family' before the mother called the Harris County constable's office to report Tavey was reluctant to allow her to see her own children.  Authorities are still searching for the kids.