Senate ethics panel chides Torricelli for gifts

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Ethics Committee on Tuesday "severely admonished" Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey for accepting gifts from a campaign contributor and businessman that the lawmaker aided.

Torricelli quickly accepted the panel's findings and, in a contrite statement on the Senate floor, apologized for "lapses of judgment."

"I want my colleagues in the Senate to know that I agree with the committee's conclusions, fully accept their findings and take full personal responsibility," he said.

But he maintained his long-standing position that he never knowingly accepted an illegal gift.

Official says bin Laden bodyguards in custody

WASHINGTON -- The men were part of bin Laden's entourage, assigned to personally protect the exiled Saudi millionaire. But how much information about bin Laden they can -- or will -- give to U.S. authorities remains unclear.

The bodyguards are among 564 suspected Taliban or al-Qaida members being held in metal cells at the Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most of the detainees were captured in Afghanistan or Pakistan during the U.S.-led war which began Oct. 7.

A senior U.S. official with knowledge of the matter said the bodyguards have been in U.S. custody since February. Some of them have served bin Laden for years and have traveled extensively with the al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

More pilot whales beached at Cape Cod

EASTHAM, Mass. -- Forty-five pilot whales died Tuesday, most of them euthanized by exhausted and heartbroken marine experts unable to free the mammals from a salt marsh where they became stranded for a third time in two days.

Volunteers had worked feverishly to free the mammals, covering them with wet blankets and bedsheets to regulate their body temperature and herding them out to sea.

"After two days of trying to give these animals any opportunity we could, a decision was made by the veterinarians on site to euthanize those animals that weren't already dead," said New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse.

Fires force evacuation of Colo. national park

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, Colo. -- A 2,077-acre wildfire charred the mesa above one of this park's signature cliff dwellings Tuesday and fire workers scrambled to protect scores of archaeological sites.

To the north, a helicopter dropping water on remaining hotspots of a wildfire near Rocky Mountain National Park crashed Tuesday night, killing one person, authorities said.

It was the second fatal crash this month involving aerial crews battling the fire.

--From wire reports