Shuttle blasts off [AP photo] The space shuttle Columbia lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral early this morning on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Officers' convictions in torture overturned
An appeals court throws out decisions against three NYPD officers in the brutal assault of Abner Louima.

New drug card plan looks a lot like old one
The administration, apparently realizing the proposal's dim chances of passing, quietly releases its new plan for a discount drug card for seniors.

Fighters trail suspect jetliner
NEW YORK -- An Air India jetliner carrying nearly 400 people was shadowed by fighter jets to New York on Thursday after authorities were told there was a suspicious passenger aboard. It turned out to be a false alarm.

School fired on, and a child dies
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A mortar shell slammed into a rural Afghan school Thursday as boys began lessons, killing one child and injuring dozens, officials said. British peacekeepers in the capital reported coming under fire for the third time in as many weeks.

Backup U.S. government secretly set
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has dispatched a shadow government of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work secretly outside Washington, activating for the first time long-standing plans to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack on the nation's capital.

Security hangs by thin thread of pay
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Tens of thousands of unpaid Afghan soldiers and police threaten to become a new source of instability in this unstable land, a government spokesman said Thursday.