Group claims to have missing soldiers
BAGHDAD, May 14 (UPI) -- A Sunni insurgent group in Iraq Monday warned U.S. troops to stop searching for three missing soldiers.
"Your soldiers are in our hands. If you want your soldiers' safety, do not search for them," said the Internet posting from Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group that includes al-Qaida, CNN reported.
Four-thousand U.S. troops have been searching for the missing American soldiers. The soldiers were on patrol in the insurgent stronghold of Mahmudiyah south of Baghdad when they were ambushed in an attack that killed four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi army interpreter
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell announced the 4,000 troops had been dispatched at a news conference on Sunday.
"We have a soldier's creed that says 'I will never leave a fallen comrade.' ... We believe in this deeply and will make every effort available to find our three missing soldiers," Caldwell said, CNN reported.
Two U.S. soldiers killed by roadside bombs
BAGHDAD, May 14 (UPI) -- A series of attacks in Baghdad Monday killed at least nine people.
Twenty-one people were wounded in the attacks, CNN reported.
Three people died and nine were wounded in a mortar attack in the Za'afaraniya neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, Iraq's Interior Ministry said.
In eastern Baghdad, a parked car exploded, killing three people, including a police officer, CNN reported.
In central Baghdad, another parked car exploded and killed three more people.
The media was prevented by the Iraqi government from covering the aftermath of the bombings, CNN reported.
"It is a war against the terrorists and they are using the media, they are using the camera (as) part of their war against Iraqis, so we should not allow them to use this one," government spokesman Ali Dabbagh told CNN. "We apologize for the, probably, the effect on a good people, on a good media."
Polish-U.S. missile defense talks open
WARSAW, Poland, May 14 (UPI) -- Poland and the United States opened talks Monday on deploying a European missile defense system on Polish territory, a report said.
The introductory round of talks is to discuss legal issues over building the base, provided an agreement is reached, Polish Radio reported Monday.
Regular talks on the interceptor missile base in Poland as part of the U.S. anti-missile center in Europe are scheduled for next week.
U.S. officials have already begun talks with Prague on stationing a radar base in the neighboring Czech Republic.
The deployment of the U.S. anti-missile system in central Europe is opposed by a growing number of citizens in the Czech Republic and Poland, with Moscow criticizing the U.S. plan as a threat to Russia.
U.S. officials say the central European defense program is aimed at intercepting missile fired from Iran or elsewhere in the Middle East.
Spring flooding in Russia
YAKUTSK, Russia, May 14 (UPI) -- Spring flooding caused by drifting ice jams flooded hundreds of homes in the Russian Yakutia republic, officials said Monday.
About 600 people were evacuated from 422 flooded homes, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said, Itar-Tass reported.
Itar-Tass reported hundreds of workers were trying to repair broken dams.
Chrysler to be sold for $7.4B
STUTTGART, Germany, May 14 (UPI) -- DaimlerChrysler AG said Monday it would sell 80.1 percent of its troubled Chrysler Group to a U.S. private-equity firm for $7.4 billion.
The sale to Cerberus Capital Management LP -- backed by the United Autoworkers Union and expected to be finalized in this third quarter -- leaves DaimlerChrysler with a 19.9 percent stake in the iconic Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker, to be known as Chrysler Holding LLC.
DaimlerChrysler will change its name to Daimler AG.
No new job cuts are planned by the new owners, said Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Tom LaSorda, who will continue to run the company.
Of the $7.4 billion, Cerberus agreed to invest $5 billion in the new Chrysler and $1.05 billion in Chrysler's financial arm. The remaining $1.35 billion will go to DaimlerChrysler, the companies said.
Daimler-Benz AG paid $36 billion for Chrysler in 1998.
The new Chrysler will be responsible for nearly $19 billion in Chrysler pension and healthcare costs.
Chrysler executives will leave the DaimlerChrysler management board, which will be reduced to six people.
"We're confident that we've found the solution that will create the greatest overall value -- both for Daimler and Chrysler," DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche said. "With this transaction, we have created the right conditions for a new start for Chrysler and Daimler."
