Spy chief: Agencies must work differently, better

WASHINGTON -- The new national intelligence director, John Negroponte, told the thousands of employees at the nation's spy agencies Friday that the government will pioneer new ways of organizing itself to face "a new order of threats to national security." In a message to the intelligence community in his first day on the job, Negroponte wrote, "We know we need to do our work differently and do it better, but the most critical element in intelligence reform resides in you, the people who will carry it out." Negroponte takes over a collection of 15 highly independent spy agencies.

Top officers cleared of prisoner abuse allegations

WASHINGTON -- The Army has cleared four top officers of all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and will not be punished, officials said Friday. Congress has hotly debated the question of accountability among senior Army and Defense Department officials who were in positions of responsibility on Iraq detention and interrogation policy. Some Democrats have accused the Pentagon of foisting all the blame onto low-ranking soldiers.

Celebrities join Inuit for dance event on Earth Day

TORONTO -- Hollywood stars Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal joined Canadian Inuits in the Arctic Circle for a traditional spring dance on Earth Day Friday. The celebrities joined some 1,000 Inuit -- half of whom were children -- in their traditional dress and followed elders onto an ice floe to form the image of an Inuit drum dancer. Some six million Canadians were expected to attend thousands of events to celebrate the 35th Earth Day, such as picking up garbage and planting trees.

Fake hospital inspectors drawing federal attention

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities are looking into three closely bunched incidents in which people posing as inspectors were caught nosing around hospitals in Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles. No arrests have been made and there is no evidence to suggest that the cases are linked or that there is a tie to terror groups, federal officials said.

Italy's prime minister asked to form new cabinet

ROME -- Italy's president Friday asked Silvio Berlusconi to form a new government, two days after the conservative media mogul stepped down as premier following a crushing defeat in regional elections. The new government would be Italy's 60th since 1946. Berlusconi must submit a list of new ministers to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and those ministers could be sworn in as soon as today.

Shoe-bomb conspirator sentenced to 13 years

LONDON -- A British judge sentenced a Muslim scholar to 13 years in prison Friday after he admitted conspiring with shoebomber Richard Reid to blow up a trans-Atlantic jetliner in 2001. Judge Adrian Fulford said he believed that Saajid Badat backed out of an alleged plot with Reid, who was subdued by passengers when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his shoe aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22, 2001, with 197 people on board.