Nation/world roundup
Aid pours into Pakistan following quake
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan -- Rescue efforts gave way to aid relief, as hopes faded Wednesday of finding more survivors in Pakistan's devastated quake zone.
Still, miracles emerged amid the misery: A Russian team rescued a 5-year-old girl trapped for nearly 100 hours under the rubble of her family home.
Trucks and helicopters with aid from dozens of countries choked roads up to the crumbling towns of the Himalayan region of Kashmir, but the hungry and homeless in hard-hit areas remained isolated four days after the quake.
Iraqi lawmakers OK last-minute amendments
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi lawmakers approved a set of last-minute amendments to the constitution without a vote on Wednesday, sealing a compromise designed to win Sunni support and boost chances for the charter's approval in a referendum just three days away.
The deal came as insurgents pressed their campaign to wreck the vote. A suicide bomber killed 30 Iraqis at an army recruitment center in a northern town that was struck by another bomber just a day earlier.
White house tries to stem Miers concerns
WASHINGTON -- The White House tried Wednesday to patch a growing fissure in the Republican Party over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers by pointing to her conservative religious beliefs.
Bush defended his nomination, saying Miers was highly qualified, a trailblazer in the law in Texas and someone who would strictly interpret the Constitution, something his conservative supporters want evidence to support.
He said his advisers' comments about Miers' churchgoing were meant to give people a better understanding of his nominee.
Big Easy cops deny using excessive force
NEW ORLEANS -- A 64-year-old retired teacher who was beaten by city police was caught on videotape pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of being drunk and resisting arrest as the officers involved denied using excessive force.
A lawyer for Robert Davis said charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation were groundless and that they should be dropped.
Chinese rocket goes to space
JIUQUAN, China -- A rocket carrying two Chinese astronauts blasted off Wednesday from a base in China's desert northwest, returning the country's manned space program to orbit two years after its history-making first flight.
The mission, reportedly due to last up to five days, is an effort by the communist government to declare its status as a rising world power with technological triumphs to match its rapid economic growth.
It is only the third country to launch a human into orbit on its own.
The Long March rocket carrying astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng lifted off at 9 a.m. from the heavily guarded Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
In a sign of official confidence, the communist government broke with the military-run space program's usual secrecy and showed the launch live on state television.
Katrina housing backlog
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- More than 9,000 mobile homes and campers meant for the victims of Hurricane Katrina are sitting unused at government staging areas while displaced families continue to live out of tents and shelters.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says the backlog was inevitable: The temporary housing is easier to acquire than distribute because of the limited number of accessible roads, cleared lots and trucks to haul housing to the storm-ravaged region.
But its been six weeks, and the people left homeless by the hurricane say they are tired of waiting for the federal government to fulfill its promise.
"We applied for a FEMA trailer, but we have no result yet," said Ben Truong, 34. He has been living with his parents, aunt and a couple of dogs on their shrimp boat near Biloxi, Miss., running the boat's engine to power a generator.
"What's killing us is we're burning the diesel that makes our living," he said. "If something doesn't happen ... we are going to lose everything."
To help with relief efforts, the government ordered 125,000 campers and mobile homes. About 6,700 campers are now occupied, but more than 2,500 mobile homes and 6,400 campers sit unused.
From wire reports. E-mail news@thesantaclara.com.