Nation Digest
Abortion-suit subpoenas defended

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At stake are records documenting certain late-term abortions performed by doctors who have joined in a legal challenge of the disputed ban.

Critics of the subpoenas accuse the Justice Department of trying to intimidate doctors and patients involved in the contested type of abortion, referred to by doctors as "intact dilation and extraction," or D&X.

At least six hospitals have been targeted by subpoenas. A federal judge in Chicago last week blocked release of records from Northwestern Memorial Hospital; another judge is considering a similar request from Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Ashcroft said the Justice Department will accept the records in edited form, after deleting or masking information that would identify a patient. Still, abortion-rights supporters depicted the subpoenas as a dangerous intrusion into medical confidentiality.

"All Americans should have the right to visit their doctor and receive sound medical attention without the fear of Big Brother looking into those records," said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

Mars rover back to work after a brief bout of cold

PASADENA, Calif. — The Mars rover Spirit got moving again yesterday after an interruption caused by cold, and controllers figured out how to drive its twin, Opportunity, so that it won't slip on the sloping martian terrain.

"I'm very pleased to report that we have two very busy rovers on the surface of Mars," said Art Thompson, a robotics engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA had been unable to send commands to Spirit through its high-gain antenna Tuesday after the rover's mast unexpectedly cast a frigid shadow over the motors that are used to position the lollipop-shaped antenna and keep it oriented toward Earth. The cold disabled the motors.

Dealer duped into delivering $123,000 BMW to teen
 
NEWARK, N.J. — A teenage boy posing as a banker duped an Ohio car dealership into delivering a $123,000 BMW to him at his high school, police said yesterday.

A second order never was shipped after the dealership became suspicious, and the teen was arrested. The first car — a 12-cylinder 2004 BMW 760Li with a heated steering wheel and seats — was later found in Raleigh, N.C., police said.

"He apparently sold the car, and it ended up in a dealership in North Carolina," said Detective Scott Davis of the Dublin, Ohio, police.

Colombian, Ecuadoran roses seized by Customs agents

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Customs agents in Miami have seized the first cache ever of "counterfeit" roses, thousands of blooms from Colombia and Ecuador that were grown or distributed without paying royalties or other fees on brands with trademarks.

Customs said yesterday it had destroyed 79 boxes of the illegal flowers during the pre-Valentine's Day surge, each with 125 to 200 stems or likely more than 10,000 roses since late January.

Also ...

Bobby Ray Hopkins, 36, was executed last night in Huntsville, Texas, for the fatal slashing of two young women more than 10 years ago while he was on probation for a drug conviction. ... Drug companies could quickly produce 270 million doses of a human vaccine for bird flu in the United States if it develops into a worldwide killer, U.S. health officials said yesterday. ... About 160 illegal immigrants — some who had not eaten in days — were found crammed inside a house Wednesday in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, officials said.

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