Nation briefs 7/14/06

Bush agrees to review of eavesdropping

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has agreed conditionally to let a court review his eavesdropping operations under a deal that, for the first time, would open an important part of his once-secret terrorism surveillance to a constitutional test. The disclosure of the agreement on Thursday came as the White House sought to end an impasse over a six-month-old dispute with Congress on the National Security Agency's program. It monitors the international calls and e-mails of Americans when terrorism is suspected. The president had authorized the monitoring without a court warrant.

Gunmen kill Iraqi national wrestling coach

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen killed the coach of Iraq's national wrestling team in a botched abduction attempt Thursday but a player escaped, police said. The attackers grabbed the coach, Mohammed Karim Abid Sahib, and one of his players as they left the sports center in the northern neighborhood of Kazamiyah, where the team was preparing to leave Friday for a tournament in the United Arab Emirates. Both men tried to flee, but Sahib was shot to death during the attempt, police Capt. Mohammed al-Waili said. The player escaped and informed authorities about the attack. His name wasn't immediately available.

Report: 1 in 8 babies born prematurely

WASHINGTON -- Specialists called Thursday for more early ultrasound exams during pregnancy and tighter guidelines for infertility treatment as key first steps in battling a growing problem: One in eight babies now is born prematurely. That's more than 500,000 babies a year, a steadily rising number as the rate of premature birth has grown by more than 30 percent in two decades. Helping these fragile infants survive and thrive costs the nation at least $26 billion a year, and there's little likelihood of improvement soon, says a sobering report from the Institute of Medicine. That's because doctors don't know the cause of most preterm births or how to prevent them, and have few good ways even to predict which women will go into preterm labor, concludes the report, which calls for urgent research to try to turn the tide.

Turkey officially opens Caspian oil pipeline

CEYHAN, Turkey -- The presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia formally opened a pipeline Thursday designed to bypass Russia and bring Caspian oil to Europe, a route that President Bush said would bolster global energy security. The United States staunchly supported the 1,100-mile, $3.9 billion pipeline as part of a strategy to tap sources of crude outside of the Middle East and draw the Caspian states away from Russia and closer to the West. In Brussels, EU spokesman Ferran Tarradellas Espuny said the pipeline "will improve our security of supply and our diversification goals .... Diversification of origin and routes has been identified as a priority in the European energy policy." Oil began flowing from the Turkish port of Ceyhan last month and some 430,000 barrels of oil are flowing each day, said Norman Rodda, construction manager for the Turkish section of the pipeline.

-- From wire reports