RAY SUAREZ: The U.S. death toll in Iraq passed 100 for the month of April. Five more U.S. troops were killed this weekend, making April the deadliest month this year for American forces. In all, 104 U.S. troops died in April. More than 3,350 Americans have died since the war began.
In spite of those numbers, a U.S. Army brigade commander in Baghdad insisted U.S. forces are not in greater danger as they carry out a security crackdown there.
COL. STEVEN TOWNSEND, U.S. Army: I don't feel like our soldiers are particularly more or less targeted than they ever have been. People state that Baghdad is the most dangerous place in Iraq. I don't know if it is or not. I've got soldiers who fought in Mosul. We fought in Najaf, Diwaniya, Baquba and Baghdad on this tour, and all of those places are pretty dangerous.
RAY SUAREZ: Violence across Iraq claimed the lives of more than 100 Iraqis today. The deadliest attack took place north of Baghdad, when a suicide bomber struck a Shiite funeral, killing at least 32 people. Dozens more were wounded.
Suicide bombings were largely to blame for a sharp rise in violence last year, according to a U.S. State Department report. The annual terror report said attacks worldwide increased 25 percent last year. Most of that violence was centered in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A U.S. audit of Iraqi rebuilding efforts found widespread problems and failures to meet key targets. The special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, released his latest assessment today.
The report found shoddy work at seven out of eight U.S.-funded projects that inspectors surveyed. All the sites were previously hailed as successes. The report also found violence and political corruption plagued rebuilding efforts, and many completed projects were not properly maintained. We'll talk with Special Inspector General Bowen later in the program tonight.
NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan made moves today into a Taliban valley stronghold. More than 3,000 troops took part in an operation in Helmand province. Its aim is to extend the control of Afghan President Karzai.
From Afghanistan, NATO commander Ton van Loon briefed reporters at the Pentagon on the recent fighting.
MAJ. GEN. TON VAN LOON, NATO Commander, Southern Afghanistan: The operations we have been doing here over the winter and, of course, last summer have been extremely effective. So we can now say that they resort only to very small scale operations. That is clearly one of the tactics they are using, trying to stay in small groups, trying to stay away from the air power, and trying to fade away into the population whenever they can.
RAY SUAREZ: Separately, in the west, the U.S. military reported more than 135 Taliban fighters were killed over the past three days. One U.S. soldier was killed in those operations.
Five men in London were sentenced to life in prison today in a plot to launch attacks with a massive fertilizer bomb. The year-long trial also exposed links to the group that attacked London's transit system in 2005. We have a report from Juliet Bremner of Independent Television News.
JULIET BREMNER, ITV News Correspondent: In a west London storage center, the ringleader, Omar Khyam, is caught on CCTV examining the fertilizer he'd bought. The 25-year-old was the mastermind of the plot, but he didn't know that intelligence were already suspicious and had substituted the fertilizer with a harmless substance.
Today, the judge told Omar Khyam and his conspirators -- Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar, Waheed Mahmood and Salahuddin Amin -- that they'd been determined to cause indiscriminate death, injury and suffering to the community into which they were born. "You have betrayed the country that gave you every opportunity in life," said Sir Michael Astill.
Hours of surveillance revealed that among the group's intended targets was the Bluewater shopping complex in Kent, the largest shopping center in Europe, attracting 27 million people a year.
Bugged conversations at Jawad Akbar's flat show his wish to strike Western symbols. Akbar wants a job at the Ministry of Sound nightclub in central London, which is packed with up to 1,200 clubbers every weekend.
The group wanted to strike the water, gas and electricity network that supplies the south of England. Khyam and Akbar discussed the best way to disable these essential services. These pictures were taken in Pakistan, where the men went to terrorist training camps to learn their craft, although they later said it was only a holiday.
RAY SUAREZ: Two other men in the British terror case were found not guilty.
An Israeli report on last summer's war with Lebanon, released today, sparked calls for the Israeli prime minister's resignation. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused to step down, but said he'd work to correct mistakes.
The report said the 34-day campaign against Hezbollah showed "a severe failure in judgment, responsibility and caution." The report also criticized the motivation and the planning of the war. More than 1,000 Lebanese civilians were killed, and 119 Israeli soldiers died.
President Bush welcomed European Union leaders to Washington today for an annual summit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso discussed issues such as a U.S. missile defense system in Europe, climate change, and trade. The leaders also threw their support behind U.N. resolutions calling for inspections at Iranian nuclear facilities.
The Department of the Interior unveiled a new plan today to expand offshore drilling in the United States. The drilling would open up new sites in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia. The five-year plan includes buffer zones to protect the environment. Congress has until the end of June to review the final drilling plan for the three areas.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions today. In one case, justices ruled 8-1 police officers are protected from lawsuits stemming from high-speed car chases. The case involved a Georgia teenager who was paralyzed in a car chase in 2001. The court ruled he could not sue the officer who forced him off the road.
Separately, the court rejected an appeal from two terror detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They face trials established under last year's Military Commissions Act. Six of the justices said the tribunals must go forward before they will hear any appeal.
Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey headed home from the hospital today. He suffered critical injuries in a car crash more than two weeks ago. The car crashed at a speed in excess of 90 miles an hour. Corzine was not wearing his seatbelt. Outside the hospital, he had this to say.
GOV. JON CORZINE (D), New Jersey: I set a very poor example for a lot of young people, a lot of people in general. And I certainly hope the state will forgive me, and I'll work very hard to try to set the right kind of example to make a difference in people's lives as we go forward.
RAY SUAREZ: Corzine broke 11 ribs and fractured his left thigh. He didn't announce when he would return to work. The New Jersey State Senate president, Richard Codey, is the acting governor.
Public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area was free today after a fiery crash collapsed a stretch of highway. On Sunday, a gasoline tanker crashed near the Oakland Bay Bridge. The intense heat from the crash caused the elevated part of the freeway to cave in. California authorities predicted the crash could cause the worst commutes since the 1989 earthquake.
In U.S. economic news, consumer spending rose in March, but at its weakest pace in five months. The Commerce Department reported today consumer spending was up 0.3 percent last month.
That hurt stocks on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 58 points to close below 13,063. The Nasdaq fell 32 points to close at 2,525.
