U.S. copter downed by 'lucky shot'
KONAR, Afghanistan, July 1 (UPI) -- U.S. authorities credit a "lucky shot" for the rocket-propelled grenade that brought down a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan.
All 16 soldiers aboard the helicopter died when it crashed on its way to the eastern province of Konar to join operations against militants. It was the first U.S. helicopter downed in such a way in Afghanistan since March, 2002.
Lt. Gen. James Conway told the BBC the attack was a "pretty lucky shot, against a moving helicopter."
Pentagon officials have confirmed all 16 bodies have been recovered and the remains are being identified. U.S. troops, hampered by bad weather, reached the crash site in a remote mountain valley late on Wednesday night.
Deep Throat almost unmasked 30 years ago
WASHINGTON, July 1 (UPI) -- The identity of Deep Throat, the key source in the Washington Post's Watergate expose, was almost revealed nearly 30 years ago, a new book says.
In "The Secret Man," Bob Woodward's upcoming book on his relationship with W. Mark Felt, the author writes he learned in 1976 Felt nearly gave himself away during grand jury testimony, the Washington Post said Friday. The book, which adds numerous revealing details to the well-known story, is to be published next week.
Woodward, now a Post assistant managing editor, writes Stanley Pottinger, the then-assistant attorney general, asked Felt, who had been the No. 2 man at the FBI, if he was Deep Throat. Felt initially said, "No," but his stunned look alerted Pottinger to the probability Felt was lying, the book says. He then reminded Felt he was under oath and asked whether he wanted the question withdrawn. Felt sought the withdrawal.
Deep Throat's identity was revealed in a Vanity Fair article a month ago.
Missing girl suspect admits lying to cops
PALM BEACH, Aruba, July 1 (UPI) -- A disc jockey arrested in the case of missing American teenager Natalee Holloway says he lied to Aruba police to protect another suspect.
Steve Croes, who works on a party boat that docks near the Holiday Inn where Holloway was staying when she disappeared May 30, told CNN he was merely repeating a story he heard another man recounting over the phone.
Croes, released after 10 days in jail, was referring to Deepak Kalpoe, 21, who originally said he and his brother Satish, 18, and their friend Joran Van Der Sloot, 17, drove Holloway back to her hotel.
Croes told police he saw the three men drop off the missing 18-year-old, who was celebrating high school graduation from Mountain Brook, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham.
She was last seen leaving a nightclub with the Kalpoe brothers and Van Der Sloot. They were arrested June 9 and have been detained since. They have not been charged.
Canadian officer suspected Arar torture
OTTAWA, July 1 (UPI) -- The senior police officer in the 2002 investigation of Maher Arar says he suspected the seized Canadian computer engineer was being tortured in Syria.
But, Superintendent Michel Cabana of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told an Ottawa inquiry court he nevertheless felt it right to share information and investigative leads with Arar's jailers, the Globe and Mail said Friday.
Cabana said the Mounties have no choice but to work with regimes with poor human-rights records.
Arar, 34, was arrested in New York Sept. 26, 2002, en route from Tunisia to Montreal. After lengthy interrogation, he was flown to Syria where he allegedly was tortured for almost a year. His attorneys want criminal charges against the U.S. agents responsible.
A judicial inquiry was convened in Ottawa on behalf of Arar, who was released without charges by Syria and returned to his family in Canada in October 2003. He had denied any involvement in radical politics.
New DaVinci drawing found
LONDON, July 1 (UPI) -- A new Leonardo da Vinci work has been discovered under the surface of another painting at a London gallery.
Experts at the National Gallery, using infra-red techniques, found a drawing under the surface of Da Vinci's "Virgin of the Rocks," which hangs at the Gallery, the BBC said
The drawing shows a woman kneeling with one arm stretched out. Experts believe the Italian Renaissance painter was planning a picture of an adoration of the child Christ but abandoned the idea.
Da Vinci was commissioned to paint the "Virgin of the Rocks" to decorate an altarpiece in a chapel in Milan in 1483.
