Fire cleanup begins at Chicago skyscraper
CHICAGO, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Eight Chicago firefighters were in serious condition Tuesday after fire struck the 29th floor of an art-deco skyscraper with no sprinkler system.
The blaze broke out about 6:30 p.m. CST Monday and burned until nearly midnight in the LaSalle National Bank building, built in 1934.
WBBM-AM, Chicago, said at least 34 people had been taken to area hospitals, 12 of them firefighters, with eight in serious condition.
Heat from the fire shattered windows and sent sheets of glass crashing to the street as flames flickered out of the windows.
More than a third of the city's firefighting force was on the scene, department spokesman Larry Langford said. Officials appealed to suburban departments, asking them to report to the Chicago Fire Academy to be deployed throughout the city. Eleven engines and 11 trucks came from suburbs including Oak Park, Des Plaines and Naperville, the most fire departments ever called in from outside city limits, the Chicago Tribune reported.
There was no immediate cause given for the fire.
Changes for U.S. troops in Iraq next year
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The role and number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq is expected to change next year, Army Gen. John Abizaid has told the Washington Post.
The commander of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region said the restructuring would depend on the outcome of national elections in January and evidence Iraqi forces could assume a greater share of combat operations against insurgents.
Abizaid said the reshaping would make combat operations by U.S. and other foreign troops "secondary to the training effort." That would mean "more embedded trainers" and possibly a larger number of Special Operations forces in place of conventional troops, he said.
Last week, the Pentagon decided to increase the number of troops in Iraq to 150,000.
Abizaid acknowledged the homegrown Iraqi forces generally "are not as mature as they need to be for the security environment that's going to exist in the next several months," which he said led to the increase in the U.S. force.
North Korea feared to have 6 nuclear bombs
NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The United Nations' chief nuclear watchdog is concerned North Korea has constructed as many as six nuclear warheads, the New York Times said Tuesday.
In an interview, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei said he suspects nuclear material his agency once monitored in the country has been converted for use in four to six nuclear bombs.
The communist government expelled IAEA inspectors nearly two years ago and soon afterwards removed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods from a holding pond where they were being stored.
However, a senior U.S. administration official told the newspaper there has been no change in U.S. assessments of the threat. The Central Intelligence Agency has estimated Pyongyang may have enough material for only two to three nuclear weapons.
Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye said if North Korea indeed possesses more weapons-grade plutonium than originally thought, the risk the country could transfer the material to terrorists becomes greater.
"When you only have one or two, you are not likely to trade one away or sell it to a terrorist. As the number starts to rise, that becomes more of a danger," he said.
Ukraine leaders debate election reform
KIEV, Ukraine, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Ukrainian parliamentarians huddled Tuesday in talks in Kiev to amend election legislation in the run-up to the Dec. 26 presidential run-off election rerun.
Also on the agenda were constitutional reforms to transfer part of the president's authority to parliament and the prime minister it elects, the Vremya Novostei newspaper reported.
Western-backed Viktor Yushchenko's opposition bloc, Our Ukraine, has agreed to support the constitutional reform if outgoing President Leonid Kuchma changes the composition of the Central Election Commission and dismisses Moscow-favored Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.
The six hours of talks were mediated by foreign observers including the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.
Political experts told the Novosti news agency it is likely Kuchma will sacrifice Yanukovich.
If that happens, Yushchenko would run as the sole candidate, but would still require more than 50 percent of the vote.
Yanukovych was declared the winner of last month's run-off poll, but the opposition and foreign observers alleged massive fraud. The rerun was ordered by the supreme court Friday.
Diana alleges lover's slaying in tape
LONDON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A videotape of Princess Diana, in which she expresses fears her lover was slain, shows the princess saying she wanted to leave Prince Charles.
The previously undisclosed tape, recorded by Diana's voice coach in 1992, was broadcast on NBC Monday.
Diana says she wanted to leave Prince Charles and run away with her lover, Barry Manakee, her bodyguard until he was "chucked out."
"I was quite happy to give all this up," she says. "Just to go off and live with him. Can you believe it?"
She then speaks of her belief that Manakee, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1987, was "bumped off."
The princess describes his death as "the biggest blow of my life."
The original inquest ruled Manakee's death was an accident
However the BBC has now reported Metropolitan Police Chief Sir John Stevens will reopen investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death.
The findings will form part of a larger report to be handed to the royal coroner ahead of the inquest into Princess Diana's death next year.
