Nation briefs 4/22/05

Despite increase in total, traffic death rate falls

WASHINGTON -- The highway fatality rate sank to a record low last year, the government estimated Thursday, but the administration and auto safety advocates bemoaned an increase in the total number of traffic deaths and urged a national focus on seat belt use. Overall, 42,800 people died on the nation's highways in 2004, up from 42,643 in 2003, according to projections by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The fatality rate dropped even as the total number of traffic deaths crept up because more drivers were on the road. The fatality rate slid from 1.48 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2003 to 1.46 deaths in 2004. It was the lowest since records were first kept in 1966, when the rate was 5.50 deaths.

Soldier convicted of planned murder in Kuwait

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- An Army sergeant was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war. Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday. Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve "maximum carnage" on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division.

Energy bill would expand daylight-saving time

WASHINGTON -- When people go through the ritual of moving their clocks forward each spring ushering in daylight-saving time, they're also saving energy -- the equivalent of thousands of barrels of oil, in fact. Congress came together Thursday -- without a word of complaint -- to extend daylight-saving time by two months. The House, in approving a massive energy bill that covers more than 1,000 pages, would extend daylight saving to the first Sunday in March and to the last Sunday in November. It now starts in early April and ends in late October. The Senate must agree -- and it is likely to do so.

Negroponte approved as intelligence chief

WASHINGTON -- John Negroponte won easy approval by the Senate on Thursday to become the nation's first national intelligence director, a job created last year to better coordinate the nation's spy agencies following the Sept. 11 attacks and other intelligence blunders. Within 45 minutes of his approval, Negroponte was sworn in at the White House by chief of staff Andrew Card as President Bush witnessed the ceremony. Negroponte will take over the task of giving Bush a daily briefing on intelligence matters, probably beginning next week, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Teens trying prescriptions to get high, study says

NEW YORK -- About one in five teenagers have tried prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin to get high, with the pill-popping members of "Generation Rx" often raiding their parents' medicine cabinets, according to a study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. The 17th annual study on teen drug abuse, released Thursday, found that more teens had abused a prescription painkiller in 2004 than Ecstasy, cocaine, crack or LSD. According to the study, the most popular prescription drug abused by teens was Vicodin, with 18 percent -- or about 4.3 million youths -- reporting they had used it to get high.

Senate approves $81 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved $81 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in a spending bill that would push the total cost of combat and reconstruction past $300 billion. Both the Senate and House versions of the measure would give President Bush much of the money he requested. But the bills differ over what portion should go to military operations. Bush urged a quick resolution of the differences. The Pentagon says it needs the money by the first week of May, so Senate and House negotiators are expected to act quickly to send the president a final bill.