Officials Concluded Troops Followed Rules of Engagement  —  June 2, 2006 — Horrific images of Iraqi adults and children have fueled new allegations that U.S. troops killed civilians in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi.  But ABC News has learned military officials have completed their investigation …

Channel 5 reporter says ex punched her  —  Rough times for local TV reporter Kathleen Walter.  —  Walter, 32, a main on-the-scene face for WPTV-Channel 5, says she was a recent victim of domestic violence.  —  "I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone," she said.

Documents show issues with wives, child support  —  Republican Jim Galley, who is running for Congress as a "pro-traditional family" candidate, was married to two women at the same time, defaulted on his child support payments and has been accused of abuse by one of his ex-wives.

Eight Oil Workers Abducted From Rig Off Nigeria  —  Armed rebels raided an oil drilling rig 40 miles off the Nigerian coast early today and kidnapped eight foreign oil workers, in the latest of a string of violent incidents meant to disrupt oil production in the country's oil-rich Niger Delta region.

Jobs Report Signals Cooling Economy  —  The American economy added a surprisingly weak number of jobs in May, a sign that nervousness over a cooling economy may be spreading among the nation's employers.  —  The net increase in nonfarm payrolls in May — 75,000 — is a significant falloff from April …

Pilot Fights Black Snake Stowaway on Plane  —  CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Monty Coles was 3,000 feet in the air when he discovered a stowaway peeking out at him from the plane's instrument panel — a 4 1/2-foot black snake.  —  Coles had left Charleston earlier for a leisurely flight …

WHEN NEW NEWS IS OLD NEWS  —  What the heck is the matter with the BBC?  —  This story on another "massacre" by US troops in Ishaqi was covered extensively by both the AP and the Middle Eastern press back in March.  Here's the story as it appeared in the Lebanon Daily Star (archived):

Cops: Couple ordered hit on grandkids  —  Wanted to stop testimony at son's rape trial, police say  —  TAVARES, Florida (AP) — A couple tried to hire a hit man to kill their three grandchildren and daughter-in-law to stop them from testifying against their son in his rape trial, authorities said.

Dishonor  —  A major new magazine has been launched in the US and Canada by one of the worlds largest magazine publishing empires.  HFM is a French company that also publishes such well known periodicals as: American Photo, Boating, Car and Driver, Cycle World, ELLE, ELLE Decor, ELLEgirl …

Freakoutonomics  —  LAST month saw one of the sharpest drops in consumer confidence since the recessions of 1979-1982.  But those were truly dreadful times.  Oil prices tripled, rates on home mortgages shot into the mid-teens, the stock market was a disaster area and unemployment rates reached double digits.

The Brain Workout  —  In praise of video games.  —  A few weeks ago, Sony and Nintendo both revealed their newest video-game systems to great fanfare, complete with slicker graphics and motion sensors.  But not everyone was pleased.  An increasingly noisy chorus of critics charge …

A Sledgehammer Approach, Made Heavier by the Pound  —  How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government —  Crown Publishers, 373 pp., $24.  —  The literary palette has many hues.  The best works of fiction and nonfiction convey a wide range of views and emotions because art, like life, isn't just black or white.

Opus Dei's Box-Office Triumph  —  AS a member of Opus Dei, I would like to thank Dan Brown and Ron Howard for "The Da Vinci Code."  Why am I not outraged like so many other devout Roman Catholics?  Because I think we could not have wished for a better result: critics attack the film (and …

Why Haditha Matters  —  Enough details have emerged from survivors and military personnel to conclude that in the town of Haditha last November, members of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment perpetrated a massacre.  The killings may have been in retaliation for the death of a Marine lance corporal …