SEATTLE, United States (AP) -- Boeing will decide on a plan to replace its popular 737 aircraft by 2012 at the latest, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press Thursday.

Last year, the company started seriously considering a successor for the 737, for which Boeing has won more than 6,000 orders since its 1967 debut.

Sandy Anger, a Boeing spokeswoman, said the company "must ensure it has the right set of breakthrough technologies in engines, aerodynamics, materials and other systems" to top the 737's efficiency.

Anger said Boeing estimates it will be ready with a replacement for the 737 "sometime in the middle of the next decade -- give or take a couple of years."

The 737 competes with Airbus' hot-selling A320, which went into service in 1988. Toulouse, France-based Airbus says it has sold more than 5,500 A320s

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan's economy grew less than originally thought in the third quarter because of a downward revision in businesses' capital investment, the government said Friday, clouding the outlook for the world's No. 2 economy.


The rising price of raw materials has put a drag on the Japanese economy in the third quarter.

The economy expanded at a 1.5 percent annual pace in the July-September quarter, worse than the preliminary estimate of 2.6 percent, according to figures released by the Cabinet Office.

The disappointing numbers come amid worries that Japan's growth might take a hit from a possible slowdown in the U.S. economy, which is wrestling with a credit crisis, as well as higher raw material prices.

Companies also apparently had greater inventories in their warehouses than first estimated, suggesting that demand may not be as strong as thought. Housing investment also dropped during the quarter.

"Inventories were a big contributor to the downward revision to the GDP," Economy Minister Hiroko Ota said at a news conference. Capital spending also negatively affected the data, she said.

Capital spending, which accounts for 15 percent of gross domestic product, was revised down to a 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter rise from a preliminary 1.7 percent increase. Inventories subtracted 0.1 percentage point from growth.

Private residential investment plunged 7.9 percent -- the largest drop since a 11.1 percent tumble in April-June 1997 -- damaged by tighter building regulations that came into force in late June. That was slightly worse than the preliminary estimate of a 7.8 percent quarter-on-quarter drop.

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Consumer spending, which makes up about 55 percent of the economy, was unchanged from a preliminary 0.3 percent rise.

Overall domestic demand, as a result, subtracted 0.1 percentage point from growth, versus a 0.2 point contribution in the preliminary report.

Healthy demand for Japan's exports, however, supported growth, contributing 0.5 point to gross domestic product, upgraded from a preliminary 0.4 point contribution.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Talks to end Hollywood's writers' strike abruptly ended Friday evening as studio negotiators walked out, accusing Writers Guild of America leaders of putting personal political agendas above the interests of writers.


Striking Hollywood writers rally in Burbank, California, Friday to call attention to their demands.

The writers' negotiators said they remain ready to continue talks "no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are."

Statements from each side suggested they were far from a settlement to the five-week-long walkout. Both sides became more entrenched in their differences over what share of residuals writers would get for Internet and DVD distribution of shows and as new demands emerged.

Production on dozens of TV series and movies halted last month. More are expected to shut down in December unless a new three-year contract between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is negotiated.

The level of personal dislike among those around the bargaining table boiled to the surface in statements issued after the talks imploded Friday evening.

"The WGA organizers sitting across the table from us have never concluded even one industry accord," the studios' statement said.

The writers' chief negotiator, David Young, is a veteran of garment and construction industry contract talks and a newcomer to Hollywood negotiations.

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"While the WGA's organizers can clearly stage rallies, concerts and mock exorcisms, we have serious concerns about whether they're capable of reaching reasonable compromises that are in the best interests of our entire industry," the studios' statement said.

"It is now absolutely clear that the WGA's organizers are determined to advance their own political ideologies and personal agendas at the expense of working writers and every other working person who depends on our industry for their livelihoods."

While the main issues on the table involved how much writers would be paid when their work is distributed through new media -- including DVDs and the Internet -- the latest impasse was apparently triggered by WGA demands that it be given jurisdiction over the growing production of reality shows and animation.

The chairman of the WGA's negotiating committee, John Bowman, said that when the studios' negotiator, Nick Counter, walked out of talks he delivered "a total rejection of our proposal on Internet streaming" and an ultimatum about the other demands.

Bowman said Counter told him the studios would not return until the guild took those demands -- and another to base Internet residuals on a distributor's gross profits -- off the table.

"This would require us to concede most of our Internet proposal as a precondition for continued bargaining," Bowman said. "The AMPTP insists we let them do to the Internet what they did to home video."

While Bowman indicated the WGA negotiators would not give in to the ultimatum, he said they "remain ready and willing to negotiate, no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are, because the stakes are simply too high."

"We were prepared to counter their proposal tonight, and when any of them are ready to return to the table, we're here, ready to make a fair deal," Bowman said.

Scriptwriters put down their pens and hit the picket lines on November 5 after failing to reach agreement on a contract to replace the one that expired two days earlier

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from his role as chairman of the British broadcaster BSkyB to make way for his son James, long seen as the tycoon's favored successor to take over his media empire.


James Murdoch's tenure at British Sky Broadcasting was viewed as a success.

James Murdoch, who has been appointed non-executive chairman of BSkyB, will also head up the Asian and European operations of News Corporation -- the parent company, News Corp. said in a statement Friday.

Murdoch will remain as CEO of News Corp., the world's third largest media conglomerate after Disney and Time Warner.

Based in New York, News Corp. also owns the Fox network, which includes Fox News, as well as broadcasters and newspapers around the world, including the Times and Sun newspapers in Britain.

It recently acquired the Wall Street Journal and is in the process of the completing a takeover of the paper's parent company, Dow Jones.

Murdoch, who is also resigning as a director of BSkyB, is believed to be keen to hand over the reigns of his business empire to his son.

"James is a talented and proven executive with a rare blend of international perspective and deep, hands-on experience in improving operational results," Murdoch was quoted as saying in the statement.

As the CEO of BskyB for the last four years, James Murdoch, 34, is considered to have done a good job. His role in charge of News Corp.'s European and Asian assets will also give him control of Sky Italia and the Star TV network in Asia.

The appointment of James Murdoch, who will step down as CEO of BskyB, was made following consultations with major shareholders, News Corp. said.

In a separate move, Les Hinton -- a respected figure in the British newspaper market -- has been appointed the new CEO of Dow Jones.

Hinton, current executive chairman of News International, the holding company for the Times, Sunday Times, Sun and News of the World newspapers, has been a huge influence on the British newspaper empire and plays a key role in appointing editors and deciding strategy.

According to the British newspaper the Guardian, News Corp. is also expected to announce that Robert Thomson, the editor of the Times, will move to New York to become publisher of the Wall Street Journal.

DUNCANVILLE, Texas (AP) -- The most popular address on Cedar Ridge Drive is Jim Trulock's split-level home, which has a group sex room and attracts as many as 100 people to swinger parties featuring "Naked Twister" nights.


Duncanville city officials met recently to outlaw sex clubs in residential areas.

But the festivities could soon be over. In response to neighbors' complaints, the city has outlawed sex clubs in residential areas. Citations have been issued, and search warrants may be next.

"It's crazy that they want to force their morality down our throats," said Dawn Burton, 45, a regular guest at the parties. "We're all frustrated."

So are those who complain of the noise, traffic and parking problems that occur in their otherwise quiet, upscale neighborhood every Friday and Saturday, when Trulock's home is transformed into "The Cherry Pit."

Duncanville, which proclaims itself "The Perfect Blend of Family, Community and Business," is an unlikely venue for a neighborhood swinger club. The city of 36,000 just southwest of Dallas has about 50 places of worship and not a single registered sexually oriented business.

Duncanville officials insist they are not just another prudish Texas town giving the boot to spouse-swappers. They say it all boils down to a matter of law: Trulock is operating a business featuring live sex acts.

"It's not trying to judge anyone or pass judgment on someone's lifestyle," city spokeswoman Tonya Lewis said.

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To support its claim, the city notes that the Cherry Pit accepts money from guests and promotes the parties on its Web site.

"We're not about infringing on the rights of the Cherry Pit patrons or owners," Lewis said. "But now your right to have fun has infringed on everyone else's. And now you have to draw the line."

Other cities have wrestled with the same issue.

Phoenix, for example, prohibited live sexual performances in 1998, effectively outlawing swinger parties. An appeals court upheld the law in 2003, and Duncanville used it as a blueprint when passing a ban last month.

Retiree Jack Martin, who lives a block behind Trulock's home, said he's concerned that the parties will reduce the value of his property.

Others are annoyed by the procession of cars that crowd their street on weekend evenings, or the flood of strangers who descend on the neighborhood.

"If you're going to do that, you should open a business," Martin said. "Go somewhere where it's allowed."

Attorneys for Trulock, 59, say the Cherry Pit is nothing more than a private residence where a group of friends get together on weekends to socialize in whatever way they prefer.

While guests are encouraged to make "voluntary donations" to cover the cost of food and refreshments, organizers deny that anyone is being charged admission to his parties.

Ed Klein, an attorney for the Cherry Pit, said many guests give no money, but those who do often chip in $10 or $20. Klein said he plans to file a lawsuit next week that will challenge the constitutionality of the ordinance and seek a temporary restraining order against the city.

"I don't think it's persecution so much as an invasion of their privacy," Klein said.

Arthur Leonard, a New York Law School professor who studies sexuality law, said the size of the parties might be a legal obstacle.

"It seems to me when you have that number of people involved, it becomes more like a public event," Leonard said. "It seems unlikely that a court would find privacy protection for an event this large."

The city has already cited Trulock with three violations, which carry a maximum $2,000 fine. Duncanville City Manager Kent Cagle this week pledged to continue enforcing the new law.

The case against the swinger parties "does appeal to a lot of people's sense of morality," said Lewis, the city spokeswoman. "That's been a lot of complaints we've gotten from residents: 'I came to Duncanville to have a family. I didn't come here to live next to a sex club.' "

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- With extra security on hand and holiday shoppers waiting at the doors, Omaha's Westroads Mall reopened Saturday morning, three days after a gunman killed eight people and himself at the mall's Von Maur store.


Nadine Cooper and her daughter stop to remember the shooting victims outside Von Maur on Saturday.

1 of 3 The store, however, remained closed. Yellow holiday lights brightened Von Maur's exterior, but black tarps draped the inside of the doors. Wreaths sat on tripods just outside, and a note from management said the store will reopen soon. No date was given.

A makeshift memorial of flowers, notes and poems covered about two-thirds of the bottom steps of the entrance gunman Robert Hawkins used to enter the store.

On display were eight foam snowflakes, each with a picture of a victim.

Outside the mall, two Red Cross vans and a Salvation Army unit were set up near the food court entrance.

Early shoppers faced wind chill temperatures of only 2 degrees above zero before trickling into the food court or the mall proper, as retailers started raising their security gates at 8 a.m.

Marge Andrews said there was a very different feeling in the mall Saturday compared to her regular walks there with a friend. She and her husband, John, 51, had come to buy sporting goods for their son and clothes for their daughter.

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"I come out here almost every morning, and (today) it was kind of just an eerie feeling of, I don't know, quiet," said Marge Andrews, 49.

"It doesn't feel like a Christmas feeling," her husband said.

Mall security videotape released Friday shows Hawkins entering the Von Maur department store Wednesday, leaving, then returning about six minutes later, clutching his midsection as if hiding something and stalking toward the elevators.

Police did not release video from the third floor where Hawkins fired the gun. But a still image taken from the videotape shows Hawkins with his sleeves rolled up, aiming his AK-47. Watch friends wonder if Hawkins would have shot them too »

Mayor Mike Fahey greeted shoppers and reassured retailers that the city stood behind them as they struggled to regain momentum during their make-or-break holiday shopping season.

"I came in here and I was wondering how I would feel about it, but I feel fine," Fahey said. "I did not necessarily look at Von Maur ... but I feel fine."

The mall is safe, the mayor said. "We have a lot of officers on duty, and they will be on duty all day long," he said.

Omaha police spokesman Bill Dropinski said he couldn't discuss specifics, but that extra officers were in the area.

The Von Maur company, which operates stores across the Midwest, said it had established a memorial fund with the local United Way for the shooting victims and their families and invited public contributions. It also said it was helping families of the eight victims with funeral arrangements and grief counseling.

Police said Hawkins, 19, of nearby Bellevue, fired more than 30 rounds inside the crowded mall, striking 11 people. Six died where they fell, one died on the way to a hospital and another died despite 45 minutes of emergency treatment at another hospital.

Three other people were wounded, two seriously.

Hawkins was a troubled teenager who spent four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. He had recently broken up with a girlfriend and lost his job at a McDonald's.

"I've just snapped. I can't take this meaningless existence anymore I've been a constant disappointment and that trend would have only continued," he wrote in a suicide note left at the suburban house where he lived. Read the suicide note »

Some who knew Hawkins in suburban Bellevue said Friday that they tried to warn police about his recent behavior.

Kevin Harrington, who lived nearby, said he contacted police a month ago to report his and other parents' concerns that Hawkins and his friends had easy access to guns and sold drugs.


Harrington, 45, said he told police in Bellevue about a month ago that one of Hawkins' friends offered to sell Valium to his 13-year-old son. Harrington said he also told police that Hawkins had once shot at a car during a drug deal gone bad.

"We told them about the drugs, we told them about the guns, and nothing was done," he said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A regional leader of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement and his family died when an explosion went off as they were sleeping in their home in southern Iraq, police said.


Smoke rises Friday from a bombed pipeline in northern Iraq.

Uday Hamid, his wife and two children died in the Numaniya blast, which police told CNN was a bomb.

A suicide car bomb exploded Saturday near an Iraqi police patrol in northern Iraq, killing four police officers and two civilians, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

Fourteen people were injured, 12 of them police officers, the official said.

Several houses and cars were damaged by the blast, which happened about 8 a.m. on the northern outskirts of Baiji, a town in Salaheddin province about 120 miles north of Baghdad, the official said.

Reuters.com reported that counterterrorism official Col. Ali Shaker was the target and was among the wounded.

A female suicide bomber killed at least 16 people Friday in Muqdadiya, 60 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province, an official with Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

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The bomber was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, Gen. Mohammed Al-Tamimi of the local police said.

She blew herself up outside a building that hosts meetings for an "awakening council," whose members are opposed to al Qaeda and have formed an alliance with U.S. and Iraqi forces.

On Friday, a pipeline that carries crude oil from northern Iraq's Kirkuk oil fields to a refinery in Salaheddin province was set on fire by a bomb planted by insurgents, Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

The damaged section, about 40 miles west of Kirkuk, should be fixed within a few days and has not disrupted Iraqi oil exports, Jihad said.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the ancient Chaldean Church, on Saturday celebrated his first Mass in Baghdad since Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to cardinal in November, The Associated Press reported.

"We pray to our Lord that this occasion will be a beginning for a new era of peace and prosperity for our beloved country," said Bishop Shlemon Wardono, according to AP

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Oil from a damaged supertanker has reached an ecologically sensitive shoreline on South Korea's western coast, a Coast Guard official said Saturday.


Residents walk along the beach covered crude oil at Taean, South Korea, early Saturday

more photos » About four miles (6.5 kilometers) of coastline near Mallipo beach, approximately 95 miles (153 kilometers) southwest of Seoul, has been affected, said Jung Se-hi, a spokesman at the Coast Guard headquarters in Incheon. The region is popular for its scenic beaches and is also the site of fish farms, a national maritime park and an important rest stop for migrating birds.

Some 2.7 million gallons of oil gushed Friday from a 146,000-ton Hong Kong-registered supertanker after a barge carrying a crane slammed into it about seven miles off Mallipo beach. The spill was the country's largest, involving twice as much oil as a spill in 1995.

South Korea's Coast Guard dispatched dozens of ships Friday to try to contain the spill and keep it from reaching the sensitive shoreline. But strong winds and prevailing currents spread the oil slick to an area about 1 mile wide and 10 miles long, Jung said.

The Coast Guard plans to mobilize 103 vessels and six helicopters Saturday in an effort to clean it up, Jung said, adding that the operation was expected to take at least three days.

Chang Geun-ho, an official of the Maritime and Fisheries Ministry, said Friday that the extent of environmental damage would depend on the success of the containment operation, though he added that cold winter temperatures could help slow the spread of the oil slick by freezing it.

The size of the leak reported by the authorities would be about one-fourth of the 11 million gallons of oil spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez in 1989.

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A spill in South Korea in 1995, previously considered the country's largest, leaked about 1.4 million gallons of crude and fuel oil.

The tanker, the Hebei Spirit, and the other vessel, owned by South Korea's Samsung Corp., were in no danger of sinking and there were no casualties, the Coast Guard said.

The tanker was at anchor and carrying about 260,000 tons of crude oil -- about 1.8 million barrels -- to be loaded into boats from a nearby port when it was hit by the South Korean barge which was being towed by a small tug boat, said Kim Tae-ho, another Coast Guard official.


The barge, which was moving from a construction site, lost control after a wire linking it to the tug boat was cut due to high winds, waves and currents, he said.

Kim said the Coast Guard planned to question the barge's captain to find why he was sailing through the area in stormy weather

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- Developing countries led by China squabbled with the West over mandatory emission cuts at the Bali climate change conference, as activists accused Canada on Saturday of undermining the negotiations by insisting on targets for poor nations.


An Indonesian activist at a green protest in Jakarta Saturday.

China, which some believe has surpassed the U.S. as the world's top emitter of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, questioned the fairness of binding cuts when its per capita emissions are about one-sixth of America's.

It said, too, that it has only been pumping pollutants into the atmosphere for a few decades, whereas the West has done so for hundreds of years.

"China is in the process of industrialization and there is a need for economic growth to meet the basic needs of the people and fight against poverty," said Su Wei, a top climate expert for the government and member of its delegation at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali.

"I just wonder whether it's fair to ask developing countries like China to take on binding targets," Su said Friday. "I think there is much room for the United States to think whether it's possible to change (its) lifestyle and consumption patterns in order to contribute to the protection of the global climate."

Delegates from nearly 190 nations are attending the December 3-14 meeting in Bali and are likely to agree to launch negotiations that will lead to an international accord to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming. They also are expected to set a deadline for completing negotiations and agree on some of the issues to be discussed.

The protocol, which was rejected by the United States, commits three dozen industrialized countries to cut their greenhouse gases an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels between next year and 2012, when it expires.

Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who is president of the conference, said discussions on starting post-Kyoto negotiations were on track and that "God willing" an agreement would be reached by next weekend.

"There is no deadlock," he said. "I would think about 85 percent of those in the room have the same direction."

However, Climate Action Network Canada, a coalition of Canadian environmental groups, said Canadian negotiators in Bali have been told to "demand that poorer nations accept the same binding absolute emission reduction targets as developed nations."

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"The Kyoto Protocol is built on the recognition that industrialized countries are largely responsible for the problem of climate change, and must take the lead in tackling it," said Steven Guilbeault of the environmental group Equiterre. "Canada is trying to rewrite history by putting the burden of emissions reductions on poorer countries."

Climate Action Network Canada provided reporters a one-page document that it described as a leaked copy of Canada's negotiating stance. It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the document, and a spokesman for the Canadian delegation did not respond to a request for comment.

The chief U.N. climate scientist, Rajendra Pachauri, said it was next to impossible to expect the developing world to agree to cuts when their per capita emissions are so much less than the West.

"What is absolutely essential is to see that the developed countries establish a record of action and commitment, which I think will induce and provide a moral basis for developing countries to assume the burden," Pachauri said.

"In the absence of that, I don't think anything is going to happen. With per capita levels being so different, it's not likely that anybody in the developing world would accept commitments."


Angus Friday, chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States, many of which are threatened by sea level rises, said developed countries had a "moral responsibility" to show leadership on the issue and act first to tackle global warming since they have contributed far more to the problem than poor countries.

"The danger in the developed world is that the culture of entitlement is not being matched by the culture of responsibility," he said.

Guantanamo detainee claims he was tortured by CIA

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A so-called "high-value" terrorism suspect held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, claims he was tortured while being held and interrogated at secret CIA prisons, and his attorneys have requested that a judge bar the agency from destroying evidence of that torture.

The motion filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys on behalf of Majid Khan is dated Nov. 29 -- a week before CIA Director Michael Hayden acknowledged the agency two years ago destroyed videotapes it made in 2002 of interrogations of al Qaeda suspects utilizing newly approved "alternative" interrogation techniques.

Attorney Gitanjali S. Gutierrez claims in the court documents that Khan, a native of Pakistan who attended high school in Baltimore, was held for more than three years at the secret CIA prisons and "subjected to an aggressive CIA detention and interrogation program notable for its elaborate planning and ruthless application of torture."

Asked about Khan's claims, CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told CNN, "CIA's terrorist interrogation effort has always been small, carefully run, lawful and highly productive. Fewer than 100 hardened terrorists have gone through the program since it began in 2002, and of those, less than a third required any special methods of questioning. The United States does not conduct or condone torture." (Posted 7:40 p.m.)

Two small aircraft collide over Florida Everglades

(CNN) -- Two small aircraft collided Saturday over the Florida Everglades, just outside of Pompano Beach, authorities said. There was no immediate indication of survivors.

Video footage showed the wreckage scene, with authorities using airboats to navigate the swampy area. No bodies had been recovered as of about 7 p.m. Saturday, said Palm Beach County sheriff's Sgt. Pete Palenzuela.

An infrared, heat-sensing helicopter was to fly over the area Saturday night as part of the rescue effort, he said, but because of darkness and the presence of "dangerous wildlife" such as alligators in the area, divers would not be utilized until Sunday.

The collision was thought to have occurred about 3:20 p.m. Saturday, Palenzuela said. A Piper aircraft flying into Pompano Beach from central Florida was on approach into Pompano Beach Regional Airport when it collided with the second aircraft, thought to be a Cessna 152, he said. (Posted 7:21 p.m.)

Two small aircraft collide over Florida Everglades

(CNN) -- Two small aircraft collided Saturday over the Florida Everglades, just outside of Pompano Beach, authorities said.

Video footage showed the wreckage scene, with authorities using airboats to navigate the swampy area. There was no immediate information on occupants of the aircraft.

The Piper PA 30 and a second unknown aircraft collided about six miles northwest of Pompano Beach about 3 p.m. ET, Federal Aviation Administration Kathleen Bergen told CNN. The Piper was headed from Ocala, Fla., to Pompano Beach, she said. Authorities believe only one person was on board.

A search of registration numbers showed the Piper aircraft is registered to an individual in Waverly, Pa. (Posted 5:59 p.m.)

Shuttle launch to take place Sunday

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (CNN) -- NASA managers have confirmed they will launch space shuttle Atlantis Sunday at 3:21 p.m., Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel said.

The launch had been originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed until Saturday after two of the four engine cut-off sensors for the spacecraft's external fuel tank failed during pre-flight testing. On Friday, Beutel said the Saturday launch would be pushed to Sunday.

Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale said the attempt will be made under very strict flight rules. All the cut-off sensors will have to perform flawlessly during the run-up to launch and pass all preflight checks. The shuttle's launch window will be shortened from 10 minutes to only one in order to put the shuttle on the optimal trajectory to rendezvous with the International Space Station using the least amount of fuel.

The malfunctioning sensors act like a "low fuel" sensor in a car. As the shuttle rockets toward space, the sensors monitor the amount of fuel in the tank and can automatically shut off the main engines if they determine the tank is empty. (Posted 5:24 p.m.)

Two small aircraft collide over Florida Everglades

(CNN) -- Two small aircraft collided Saturday over the Florida Everglades, just outside of Pompano Beach, authorities said.

Video footage showed the wreckage scene, with authorities using airboats to navigate the swampy area. There was no immediate information on occupants of the aircraft.

The Piper PA 30 and a second unknown aircraft collided about six miles northwest of Pompano Beach about 2:40 p.m. ET, Federal Aviation Administration Kathleen Bergen told CNN.

A search of registration numbers showed the Piper aircraft is registered to an individual in Waverly, Pa. (Posted 5:10 p.m.)

Iran's foreign minister says 30 percent of NIE report 'wrong'

(CNN) -- Iran's foreign minister said Saturday a U.S. intelligence report on the country's nuclear program is 70 percent true, but denied the report's assertion that that Iran had a nuclear program before 2003.

"Seventy percent of U.S. intelligence report is true and positive and the remaining 30 percent, in which they claim that Iran had a nuclear weapon program before 2003 is wrong," Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to a translation of remarks he made at Amir Kabir university in Tehran. "They refused to confess about this 30 percent because they did not want to lose all their reputation or for similar reasons."

Mottaki was referring to the National Intelligence Estimate's report on Iran, released earlier this month. Among other findings, the report stated that Iran halted work toward a nuclear weapon while under international scrutiny in 2003 and is unlikely to be able to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb until 2010 to 2015.

Earlier this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed the report as "a declaration of victory" for Iran in the face of international pressure to suspend his country's production of nuclear fuel. (Posted 5:10 p.m.)

Shuttle launch to take place Sunday

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (CNN) -- NASA managers have confirmed they will launch space shuttle Atlantis Sunday at 3:21 p.m., Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel said.

The launch had been originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed until Saturday after two of the four engine cut-off sensors for the spacecraft's external fuel tank failed during pre-flight testing. On Friday, Beutel said the Saturday launch would be pushed to Sunday.

The focus of the shuttle's upcoming 11-day mission is delivering the long-awaited European addition to the International Space Station -- a 23-foot-long laboratory module named "Columbus," after the 15th century explorer.

The high-tech lab has been in the works for 25 years and is considered a huge milestone toward the completion of the space station. (Posted 4:39 p.m.)

CIA, Justice officials to probe destruction of tapes

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department and CIA will do a preliminary inquiry into the spy agency's destruction of videotapes taken during interrogations of two al Qaeda suspects, a DOJ official said Saturday.

The announcement was made in a letter from Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein to the CIA's acting general counsel, John Rizzo. Wainstein said the purpose of the probe will be to determine "whether further investigation is warranted."

On Friday, a former intelligence official told CNN that Rizzo opposed the destruction of the tapes. The ex-official, who did not want to be identified, told CNN that Rizzo didn't know they had been destroyed until after it was already done.

"I welcome this inquiry, and the CIA will cooperate fully," said CIA Director Mike Hayden in a written statement from the agency.

Osama bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubayda was one of two al Qaeda suspects whose interrogations were videotaped, according to a government official with knowledge of the tapes. (Posted 3:57 p.m.)

Darwin faces two charges, to appear in court Monday

(CNN) -- John Darwin, the British man who reappeared five years after he was believed to have drowned, has been charged with obtaining a money transfer by deception and making an untrue statement to procure a passport, police Detective Sgt. Iain Henderson said Saturday in Cleveland, a town in northern England.

Darwin will appear in Magistrates Court on Monday, and he will remain in police custody at least until then, Henderson said.

The 57-year-old former prison officer and teacher was presumed to have died in 2002 after the remains of a kayak he paddled into the North Sea washed up on shore.

He walked into a central London police station last week, and told police officers he was suffering from amnesia, and that he had no memory of the last five years.

Police arrested Darwin Tuesday on suspicion of fraud, and he was taken from London to northeast Britain for questioning. (Posted 1:48 p.m.)

Shoppers return to Omaha mall with sad memories

(CNN) -- Christmas shoppers streamed into Omaha's Westroads Mall Saturday, just days after a troubled teen went on a shooting spree, killing eight people before turning the gun on himself.

The Von Maur store where the shootings occurred remained closed, and spokeswoman Megan Hakes said no reopening date had been set. There was work going on inside this weekend, she said. She did not specify what type of work.

Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey, who was greeting shoppers, said he passed along this message: "Welcome back. Thank you for coming here, for your support."

Robert Hawkins, 19, entered the Von Maur store about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, left and returned about six minutes later, police said. He took an elevator to the third floor and began firing an AK-47 as employees and holiday shoppers scrambled for cover. (Posted 1:25 p.m.)

Violence across Iraq kills at least nine

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A leader in the political movement of radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was killed Saturday, along with three members of his family, when a bomb exploded in their house, an official with the An Numaniyah police told CNN.

Uday Hamid Ali -- a leader in al-Sadr's office in An Numaniyah -- and his wife and two children died, the official said. Police are investigating attack, he said.

In northern Iraq, a suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol, killing six people, including four police officers, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. Fourteen people were wounded, including 12 police, the official said.

Several houses and cars were damaged by the blast, which happened on the northern outskirts of Baiji in Salaheddin province. (Posted 11:34 a.m.)

ISAF soldier killed, another wounded in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A soldier with the International Security Assistance Force was killed Saturday and another was wounded in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, ISAF reported.

"We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those who have died or been injured today while working to ensure a more stable future for the people of Afghanistan," said Wing Cmdr. Antony McCord, Regional Command South spokesperson.

ISAF said it wouldn't release the casualty's nationality until authorized to do so. (Posted 9:38 a.m.)

Obama hopes 'Oprah-bama' attracts pro-Clinton women

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Political endorsements rarely translate into votes, but sometimes the timing of one can carry great significance.

That's what Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is hoping for as they pick up the backing of Oprah Winfrey less than one month from the Iowa caucuses.

The three-state "Oprah-bama" tour starts at a Des Moines, Iowa, rally Saturday in a space that can accommodate thousands, and then moves east to Cedar Rapids for an event expected to bring in close to 8,500 people.

The two will travel to South Carolina and New Hampshire on Sunday. (Posted 9:37 a.m.)

Former official: CIA lawyer unaware videotapes destroyed

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former intelligence official said Saturday that the CIA's top lawyer, John Rizzo, opposed the destruction of videotapes showing the interrogations of some al Qaeda suspects.

The ex-official told CNN that Rizzo didn't know they had been destroyed until after it was already done.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney learned about the videotaped interrogations Thursday, when CIA Director Michael Hayden briefed them about the existence of the tapes and their subsequent destruction, administration officials said Friday.

The interrogations -- using newly approved "alternative" interrogation techniques -- of two al Qaeda suspects were recorded in 2002, Hayden said Thursday in a letter to CIA employees. They were destroyed three years later when the agency determined they had no intelligence value and could pose a security risk, he said. (Posted 9:03 a.m.)

Afghans used as human shields killed in Taliban attack

(CNN) -- Two Afghan children died and four civilians were wounded in a battle between an Afghan military patrol and Taliban fighters who were using them as human shields, an NATO spokesman said.

A soldier assigned to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed in the same area -- the Musa Qaleh district of Helmand province -- by a land mine, according to Maj. Charles Anthony.

The Afghan National Army, with support from ISAF, launched a major operation Friday to retake the Musa Qaleh district from Taliban forces who have controlled the area for "quite some time," Anthony said. (Posted 7:54 a.m.)

Suicide bomb kills 6, hurts 14, mostly police

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol in northern Iraq, killing six people, including four police officers and wounding 14 others Saturday morning, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

Twelve of the wounded were police officials, the official said.

Several houses and cars were damaged by the blast, which happened at about 8 a.m. on the northern outskirts of Baiji, a town in the Salaheddin province about 120 miles north of Baghdad, the official said. (Posted 6:15 a.m.)

FAA: Continental jets come close to collision on Newark runway

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two Continental Airlines jets came close to colliding on a runway at Newark Liberty International Airport Thursday night, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration said.

A source close to the investigation said a passenger jet that was landing came within 300 feet of another plane taxiing across the runway.

Continental Express Flight 2558, an Embraer 145, was crossing the end of runway 22 just as Continental Flight 573, a Boeing 737, flew over it on an instrument approach about 9 p.m. Thursday, according to FAA spokesman Jim Peters. The flight crew of the taxiing plane had acknowledged an air traffic controller's instruction to hold short at the end of the runway but the plane continued anyway, Peters said.

Peters said investigators were examining radar, radio transmissions and other information to determine what happened. (Posted 6: 14 a.m.)

Gates: NIE findings support more international pressure on Iran

MANAMA, Bahrain (CNN) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on the international community to step up pressure on Iran to vow not to develop nuclear weapons, suspend uranium enrichment and to open up its nuclear facilities for inspection.

Gates, addressing a Gulf states' security conference Saturday, sarcastically noted that Iran celebrated the U.S. intelligence community's recent report that said Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

He said it marks a "watershed" that "Iran has, for the first time, embraced as valid an assessment of the United States intelligence community - on Iran's nuclear weapons program."

He said "since that government now acknowledges the quality of American intelligence assessments, I assume that it also will embrace as valid American intelligence assessments" that Iran is funding militia groups in Iraq; deploying lethal weapons to Iraq and Afghanistan; supporting terrorist organizations; and continued development of missiles to carry nuclear warheads. (Posted 4:33 a.m.)

Suicide bomb kills 4 police, hurts 12 in northern Iraq

BAGHDAD (CNN) -- A suicide car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol in northern Iraq, killing four police officers and wounding 12 others Saturday morning, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The blast happened at about 8 a.m. on the northern outskirts of Baiji, a town in the Salaheddin province about 120 miles north of Baghdad, the official said. (Posted 3:31 a.m.)

Talks to end Hollywood writers' strike collapse

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Talks to end Hollywood's writers' strike abruptly ended Friday evening as studio negotiators walked out, accusing Writers Guild of America (WGA) leadership of putting their personal political agendas above the interest of their membership.

The writer's negotiators said they remain ready to continue talks "no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are."

Statements from each side suggested they were far from a settlement to the five-week-long walkout, as they became more entrenched in their differences over what share of residuals writers would get for Internet and DVD distribution of shows and as new demands emerged.

Production on dozens of television series and movies halted last month and more are expected to shut down in December unless a new three-year contract between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is reached