Emotion as life term sought for US student in Italy (AFP)

 
AFP - American student Amanda Knox exclaimed "I was her friend!" as Italian prosecutors Saturday demanded she be jailed for life for the 2007 murder of her British housemate Meredith Kercher.

Report finds wide disparities in gifted education (AP)

AP - When Liz Fitzgerald realized her son and daughter were forced to read books in math class while the other children caught up, she had them moved into gifted classes at their suburban Atlanta elementary school.

Ringleader in tower terrorism plot to be sentenced (AP)

AP - The ringleader of a group of men convicted of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and bomb FBI offices is scheduled to be sentenced.

Russian Orthodox priest shot dead in Moscow church (AP)

AP - A gunman killed a Russian Orthodox priest in his Moscow church and seriously wounded the reverend's assistant, officials said Friday.

Gates Foundation gives

AP - Three school districts and a coalition of charter schools have agreed to be test kitchens for some radical ideas for improving teacher quality — from paying new teachers to spend another year practicing before getting their own class to letting student test scores affect teacher pay.

Protesters gather at UCLA to oppose UC fee hike (AP)

AP - Hundreds of protesters chanted, marched and took over a building Thursday on the UCLA campus, where University of California regents were scheduled to vote on a 32 percent student fee increase.

Probe continues in Chicago BOE president

AP - Divers returned to the Chicago River and investigators scoured cell phone records Tuesday as police declined to call the death of the city's school board president a suicide a day after an autopsy concluded he shot himself in the head.

Guantanamo suspect denied military lawyers in N.Y. (Reuters)

Reuters - The first detainee transferred from Guantanamo Bay to face charges in a U.S. civilian court will not be represented by military lawyers as he had requested, a U.S. judge in New York ruled on Wednesday.

Bishops assert moral duty in health care debate (AP)

 
AP - The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops defended their involvement in the health care debate, saying Monday that church leaders have a duty to the nation and God to raise moral concerns on any issue, including on abortion rights and coverage for the poor.

Chicago schools president

AP - Chicago's school board president shot himself in the head, officials said, as city leaders grappled with more bad news for a district trying to recover from the beating death of a high school student and a federal investigation into allegations of politically influenced admissions.

Illinois lobbies to land Guantanamo detainees (AFP)

 
AFP - The state of Illinois is lobbying hard to land relocated Guantanamo detainees despite strenuous opposition to bringing the terrorism suspects to the United States, top lawmakers said Sunday.

Five arrested in anti-terror raids (AFP)

 
AFP - Anti-terror police arrested five people on Monday in pre-dawn raids in Manchester and near London's Heathrow airport, officials said.

Germans ID convert, 27, as terror suspect (AP)

 
AP - Authorities have identified a 27-year-old German convert to Islam as an al-Qaida associate suspected of traveling to Afghanistan and planning to attack German targets.

Serb Patriarch Pavle dies, spoke for Balkan peace (AP)

 
AP - Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle, who called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan ethnic wars of the 1990s but failed to openly condemn extreme Serb nationalism, died Sunday. He was 95.