Gwinnett Daily Post

U.S. officials: Iran could still develop nuclear weapon by 2015

WASHINGTON - Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium, which means it may still be able to develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, according to a new U.S. intelligence assessment released Monday.

That finding, part of a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, is a sharp turnaround from two years ago when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program.

Teacher leaves Sudan after being pardoned in teddy bear case

LIVERPOOL, England - Gillian Gibbons' family gathered with beer, wine and flowers Monday, waiting to welcome home the British teacher jailed by Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

'It's been a strange old week, very stressful and particularly bad for the family, but now she's coming home, fingers crossed,' her son, John Gibbons, said after it was announced his mother had been pardoned and left Sudan. 'If this week has taught me anything, it is that anything can happen.'

Mexican singer slain in hospital

MEXICO CITY - A Mexican singer was shot to death in her hospital bed, police said Monday, the fourth time in a year assailants have killed performers of a popular northern music with lyrics often that focus on drug trafficking and violence.

Zayda Pena, 28, was shot in the heart Saturday in the city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, while recovering from a gunshot wound to the neck she received Friday, police detective Abel Infante said.

42 rebels killed in northern Sri Lanka fighting

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels battled each other Monday with rifles, mortars and artillery across northern Sri Lanka, leaving 42 rebels and six soldiers dead, the military said.

In the worst violence, in the Mannar district just south of rebel-held territory, guerrilla fighters attacked soldiers in an offensive aimed at recapturing land the military seized over the weekend, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara.

- From wire reports