(AP) - Israel's former President Katsav convicted of raping an employee when he was Cabinet minister

JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Israel President Moshe Katsav was convicted Thursday of raping an employee when he was a Cabinet minister, the most serious criminal charges ever brought against a high-ranking official and a case that stunned the nation.

Katsav, 65, faces a minimum of four years in prison on two counts of raping one of his employees in 1998 when he was Israel's tourism minister. The Tel Aviv District Court also convicted him on lesser counts of indecent acts and sexual harassment involving two other women who worked for him after he became president in 2000.

Katsav has denied the charges. He claimed to be a victim of a political witchhunt, suggesting he was targeted because he comes from Israel's Sephardic community. Sephardic Jews, of Middle Eastern origin, were for decades an underclass in Israeli society. Katsav was born in Iran and immigrated to Israel as a child.

The verdict caps a four-and-a-half year saga that shocked Israelis, both with its lurid details and bizarre twists and turns.

Katsav resigned in 2007, two weeks before his seven-year term expired, under a plea bargain that would have required him to admit to lesser charges of sexual misconduct.

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Roadside bomb hits minibus, killing at least 10 civilians in south Afghanistan, officials say

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb blew up next to a minibus at a crowded intersection on a highway in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least 10 civilians, NATO and Afghan officials said.

The blast struck the minibus in the Nahr-e-Saraj district in Helmand province on the main road running from the city of Kandahar to Herat, said Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Helmand governor's office.

Ahmadi said that 14 people were killed — including women and children — and four others wounded in the explosion, while NATO put the death toll at 10. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the difference.

Helmand is one of the Taliban's strongholds in southern Afghanistan. It has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the war and an area where NATO has poured in troops in a bid to quell the insurgency.

Last week, the Helmand governor's office said five civilians were killed during a firefight between militants and NATO forces in the province's Sangin district. Seven insurgents were killed in that battle.

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NY mayor criticizes emergency response after snowstorm; some 911 callers waited hours

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City's emergency response system dealt with a staggering number of calls in the aftermath of a post-Christmas blizzard, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested that New Yorkers themselves shared some of the blame.

Under fire for what some perceived as the city's sluggish response to the blizzard that dropped 20 inches of snow on the city and surrounding area, Bloomberg on Wednesday deflected some of the criticism.

"We asked the public to do two things," Bloomberg said. "Don't call 911 unless it was a serious emergency ... And don't drive.

"Unfortunately, too many people didn't listen."

New York City operators fielded 49,478 calls to 911 on Monday, the day after the storm. That total was the sixth highest in any day since the city began keeping statistics. There were 38,000 calls on Tuesday. Some of the calls came from the same location, but it's not clear how many.

Many of the calls were not for emergencies, and plows couldn't clear the way for ambulances because streets were clogged with abandoned vehicles.

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3 terror suspects to face custody hearing, fourth man to be released, remains a suspect

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — One of five men arrested possibly hours before a planned shooting attack on the office of a newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad is to be released, a Danish intelligence official said Thursday.

The official told the AP that the man, an Iraqi asylum seeker who was arrested in Denmark, is being freed but remains a suspect. He gave no other details. Three other men still face hearings in Copenhagen on Thursday.

The Wednesday arrests rattled Danes and brought renewed attention to simmering anger at the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which has been the target of several attacks and threats since publishing cartoons of Muhammad in 2005, in what it called a challenge to perceived self-censorship.

Four of the suspects, including the Iraqi, were arrested in the suburbs of Copenhagen in two raids while the fifth suspect, a Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin, was arrested in Sweden.

The official who spoke to the AP did not say why the Iraqi-born Danish resident was being released. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

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South Korea says North Korea builds up special forces, deploys newer tanks near border

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has faster, more powerful tanks prowling the world's most heavily armed border and 200,000 special forces poised to carry out assassinations and cause havoc in South Korea, a major military review said Thursday.

Seoul's Defense Ministry report, released every two years, signals that the North's military threat has expanded. It comes as President Lee Myung-bak's administration scrambles to respond to criticism that it was unprepared for a Nov. 23 North Korean artillery attack on a front-line island that killed four people.

That attack, along with an alleged North Korean torpedoing of a warship in March, has prompted South Korea to define the North in the defense document as its "enemy," a stronger description than in 2008 when the North was only called a "direct and serious threat."

South Korean defense documents stopped referring to North Korea as "the main enemy" — a constant subject of North Korean criticism — in 2004 amid then-warming ties. The North's state media angrily reacted to the new reference later Thursday, calling it a "grave provocation" that could trigger war.

The new document says the North intends to rely on its nuclear program, special forces, long-range artillery, submarines and cyber warfare forces as a counterweight to South Korea's high-tech conventional military.

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Obama administration expels Venezuela's ambassador after challenge from President Chavez

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dared the U.S. to expel his ambassador in retaliation for his move to reject the U.S. envoy to the South American country.

On Wednesday, that's just what the Obama administration did.

Chavez issued his dare a day earlier, saying he would not allow the U.S. diplomat, Larry Palmer, to be ambassador because the U.S. official made what Chavez described as blatantly disrespectful remarks about Venezuela.

"If the government is going to expel our ambassador there, let them do it," Chavez said, adding, "If they're going to cut diplomatic relations, let them do it."

U.S. diplomats familiar with the situation said the decision to revoke Bernardo Alvarez Herrera's visa came after Chavez's decision to withdraw his approval of Palmer. The diplomats said Alvarez is currently not in the U.S.

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Texas, EPA fight over regulations grows fierce despite agreement that environment at risk

HOUSTON (AP) — A longstanding tit-for-tat between Texas and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over how to regulate pollution has grown fierce in recent months, leaving industry frustrated and allowing some plants and refineries to spew more toxic waste into the air, streams and lakes than what is federally acceptable.

Both sides and conservation groups agree the battle has put the health of Texas residents and the environment at risk. But the back-and-forth over everything from who should issue permits to whether state agencies are properly cracking down on polluters shows no signs of slowing down.

The fight has gotten so ugly that the EPA took the unprecedented step this month of announcing it will directly issue greenhouse gas permits to Texas industries beginning in January after the state openly refused to comply with new federal regulations.

"Emissions are too high, the emissions are too toxic and Texas water is being harmed," said EPA regional director, Al Armendariz.

The EPA is "putting politics ahead of the environmental issues," said Bryan Shaw, chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

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Skype releasing new iPhone app that allows video calls over Wi-Fi, AT&T's 3G network

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new version of the free iPhone app for Skype SA will let users make and receive video calls.

Users of the Internet calling and messaging service will be able to use both Wi-Fi and AT&T Inc.'s 3G cellular network. FaceTime software, which comes with iPhones, works only with Wi-Fi.

The app, which is being released Thursday through Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store, will let iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS users make free video calls to other Skype users who are using the app or have access to the feature using Skype on their computer or other video phone.

Those with the latest iPod Touch will be able to make video calls over Wi-Fi. The app allows the iPad and previous-generation iPod Touch to receive video calls, too, Skype said.

Skype's software offers free services such as voice or video calls to other Skype users.

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Tibetan monks come to Atlanta's Emory University to study science, become teachers

ATLANTA (AP) — Munching on pizza. Posting on Facebook. Hanging out with friends on weekends.

Some of the newest students at Emory University's student body may act like typical college kids, but there's a key difference: They're Tibetan monks sent by the Dalai Lama to the United States to learn science.

Wearing the traditional crimson robes and closely shorn heads of Tibetan monastics, the six men — most in their 30s — are taking physics, biology and chemistry classes with hopes of returning to Tibetan monasteries in India to teach science to other monks and nuns.

It's the first established program for Tibetan monks from India to train at a Western university, said Geshe Lhakdor, director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in India.

"They are pioneers," he said in a recent interview while visiting Atlanta.

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In last week of letdown season, Brett Favre fined $50K for 'failure to cooperate' with NFL

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — As Brett Favre pondered his future this summer, three Minnesota Vikings players arrived at his Mississippi home with a last-ditch sales pitch to persuade the aging quarterback to put on his uniform for a 20th season.

But his teammates weren't selling this: With the Vikings out of the playoff chase and the once-bionic signal-caller recovering from yet another serious injury, Favre began what could well be the final week of his career with another hit — a $50,000 fine from the NFL.

The league finalized Wednesday a slow-paced investigation of tawdry allegations against the 41-year-old with a rebuke of the all-time ironman for not cooperating with the process.

After nearly three months of interviews, forensic analysis and further examination, the NFL said Commissioner Roger Goodell "could not conclude" that Favre violated the league's personal conduct policy based on the evidence available to him. Investigators were trying to determine if Favre sent inappropriate messages and below-the-belt photos to Jenn Sterger in 2008, when both worked for the New York Jets.

Forensic analysis failed to establish that Favre sent the images to Sterger, the league said, but her attorney in accusing the NFL of favoritism asserted there was "ample evidence" that the photos came from Favre.

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