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The U.S. Marines paid at least $38,000 to the families of Iraqi civilians killed in a November clash in Haditha. The payments were made in December, according to a report confirmed by NPR. Investigators have been told that a sergeant coaxed the Marines to fabricate a cover story of the incident.

A proposal being considered by the U.S. Postal Service would create a new "forever stamp." The product would allow customers to buy a first class stamp that would suffice for postage -- no matter what rate increases come along. Michele Norris talks with Stephen Kearney, vice president of pricing at the U.S. Postal Service.

Israeli officials are working to gain the release of a soldier who was seized by Palestinian militants during a guerrilla raid Sunday in southern Israel. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is warning of a major incursion into the Gaza Strip unless Palestinian authorities hand over the abducted soldier.

USA Today publishes a follow-up story to its May report of a secret government program for the creation of a massive data base of American's phone records with the cooperation of several telecommunications companies. In the story printed today, the paper stated that further reporting has left them unable to confirm that Bell South and Verizon cooperated with the government, as the paper reported in May. The admission comes in a week during which the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have been hammering The New York Times for publishing a story about another secret government program for surveillance of banking records. The attacks on the Times have questioned the role of the press in a time of war -- and some have suggested the prosecution of journalists under espionage laws.

Boxing champion Floyd Patterson has died after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 71. In 1956, Patterson became the youngest man ever to win the heavyweight title. He was also the first to reclaim the crown after losing it.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema sentences an unrepentant Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Moussaoui's final public words were that Americans would never catch Osama bin Laden.

Congress' use-of-force authorization, passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, gave the Bush administration the power to use electronic surveillance, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says. Although not specifically mentioned in the measure, domestic spying is a necessary part of the effort to fight terrorism, he says.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has taken a beating in the British press, after what one paper called the most chaotic day since the Labour Party came to power nine years ago. Three of Blair's senior ministers stumbled Wednesday, fueling media speculation that Blair's time in power might be nearing an end.

The Supreme Court hears arguments on what condemned inmates can do to challenge their method of execution. The Florida case centers on whether an inmate should get a federal court hearing on his claim that the lethal-injection method causes unnecessary pain.

Two Americans and a German share the prize for work that used light to make some of the most precise measurements ever performed. Engineers have used the observations of Roy Glauber, John Hall and Theodor Haensch to improve lasers, Global Positioning System technology and other instruments.