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LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- An alumni group dedicated to "exposing the most radical professors" at the University of California at Los Angeles is offering to pay students $100 to record classroom lectures of suspect faculty. The Web site of the Bruin Alumni Association also includes a "Dirty Thirty" list of professors considered by the group to be the most extreme left-wing members of th ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney defended the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program Thursday, calling it an essential tool in monitoring al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. But Cheney stressed the program was limited in scope and had been conducted in a way that safeguarded civil liberties. "A spirit of debate is now under way, and our message to the American people is clear and straightforward: These actions are within the president's authority and responsibil ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The government denied on Friday it was involved in a cover-up of U.S. transfers of terrorism suspects and said it was not aware of any cases other than those ministers have already revealed to parliament. As pressure mounts on the government to hold an inquiry into Britain's role in so-called extraordinary renditions, Foreign Minister Jack Straw was forced to issue a written statement. Human rights groups accuse the United States of transporting terrorism suspects outside no ...

LONDON (Reuters) - Two teenagers were remanded in custody on Friday over the murder of a London lawyer who was stabbed to death last week in a vicious street attack. Donnel Marcus Carty, 19 and an unnamed 17-year old appeared before West London Magistrates Court charged with the murder and robbery of Tom ap Rhys Pryce, who was attacked just yards from his home in Willesden last Thursday. The teenagers also face charges of robbing another man shortly before Pryce was attacked. Pryce was killed  ...

LONDON (Reuters) - England soccer coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is suing the News of the World after it quoted him saying he was ready to leave the national side after this year's World Cup, his lawyers said on Friday. The News of the World quoted the Swede telling one of its journalists posing as a wealthy Arab businessman that he might quit after the tournament in Germany and take over at Premier League club Aston Villa. "Our clients' position is that stories of this sort, and the distortion of  ...

By Matthew Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Battered by a political storm over sex offenders teaching in schools, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly sought on Friday to allay fears in her own party about the government's flagship schools reform programme. Up to 90 Labour Members of Parliament and former leader Neil Kinnock have expressed unease about the overhaul which they fear will result in pupils being selected according to academic ability. Kelly told BBC radio that proposals in the upcoming educati ...

By Jeremy Lovell LONDON (Reuters) - A small whale swam up the Thames to central London on Friday, a rare event which drew large crowds of sightseers and brought traffic to a standstill. But as the whale twice tried to ground itself before eventually finding slightly deeper water as the tide came in, concerns grew that it might not survive. As the Northern Bottle-nosed Whale beached next to Chelsea Bridge, three men waded into the river hitting the water and then punching the air in celebratio ...

By Alastair Macdonald BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Shi'ite Islamists were confirmed in power by election results on Friday that gave them a near-majority and opened the way for U.S.-backed negotiations with Kurds and Sunni Arabs on a national unity government. With Baghdad all but sealed off by security forces on alert for attacks by Sunni rebels who accused the ruling Shi'ite Alliance of cheating in last month's poll, two civilians were killed in one of several bomb attacks on U.S. and Iraqi pa ...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wilson Pickett, the soul pioneer best known for the fiery hits "Mustang Sally" and "In The Midnight Hour," died of a heart attack Thursday in a Reston, Virginia, hospital, according to his management company. He was 64. Chris Tuthill of the management company Talent Source said Pickett had been suffering from health problems for the past year. Pickett lived in Ashburn, Virginia. "He did his part. It was a great ride, a great trip. I loved him and I'm sure he was well-loved, an ...

(CNN) -- CIA officials believe an audiotaped message threatening the United States is from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who warns that plans for terror attacks are under way -- and also offers a "long-term truce." "The war against America and its allies will not be confined to Iraq," the voice on the tape said, adding that "Iraq has become a magnet for attracting and training talented fighters." "It's only a matter of time," the voice said, referring to attacks. "They are in the planning  ...