Web site says bin Laden planning new message

NEW YORK -- Terror leader Osama bin Laden will release a new Internet message dealing with Somalia and Iraq, according to a Web posting Friday. The site that frequently carries messages from the terror network has begun sending out teasers for an upcoming release, saying bin Laden will talk about Somalia and Iraq, according to the IntelCenter. The latest message carries a banner saying, "Good news, soon: To the Islamic nation, and the mujahedeen in Iraq and Somalia in particular, from Sheik Osama bin Laden." Included in the posting is a picture of bin Laden. The Virginia-based IntelCenter, an independent organization that monitor terror messages, said the upcoming video will most likely follow the format of previous videos with an audio statement of bin Laden matched up with other video footage.

Female candidates fail to win in Kuwaiti election

KUWAIT CITY -- Kuwaitis did not elect a single woman candidate in the country's first parliamentary vote open to women, but reformists scored a victory that could dramatically increase friction between the parliament and the Cabinet appointed by the ruling family. Thirty-six of those who won seats in the 50-seat house were reformists, according to results of Thursday's vote published by the state-owned Kuwait News Agency. Twenty-one of them held seats in the previous parliament that the emir, Kuwait's ruler, dissolved last month. None of the 27 women who ran against 222 men for the parliament's 50 seats emerged with a win, according to official results released Friday. Although winners were announced in all races, complete vote tallies were not. But newspapers reported that the highest polling woman was Rola Dashti, a U.S.-educated economist, followed by Nabeela al-Anjari, a former information ministry official.

Troops clash with gunmen northeast of Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces clashed with gunmen northeast of Baghdad after armed Shiites attacked a convoy of Sunni villagers in retaliation for a suicide attack, officials said Friday. The Sunnis were attacked Thursday as they were moving out of the religiously mixed village of Daliqiya after being threatened by Shiite residents accusing them of being behind a bicycle bombing in nearby Baqouba that killed at least 25 people Monday, police said. Iraqi police tried to intervene, but snipers killed the head of the force, Col. Sami Abbas Hassan, and his two bodyguards.

Soldiers investigated for alleged rape, murder

BEIJI, Iraq -- A group of American soldiers in an insurgent-riddled town allegedly noticed a young Iraqi woman when on patrol and later returned to rape her, according to U.S. officials Friday. In an apparent cover-up attempt, she and three members of her family then were killed and her body was set on fire. Five U.S. troops are being investigated, a U.S. military official said. The suspects in the killing, which took place in March, were from the same platoon as two soldiers kidnapped and killed south of Baghdad this month, said the official, who is close to the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

-- From wire reports