U.N. investigators in the Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed that rebel troops in the north-eastern part of the country had raped, tortured, arbitrarily executed and cannibalized victims. The atrocities occurred during the last months of 2002. (BBC)

North Korea refused a recent U.S. offer of aid in exchange for discontinuing its nuclear weapons program. The refusal may or may not itself be a negotiating tactic. (WaPost)

The United States submitted an undisclosed proposal to NATO concerning NATO's possible involvement in a military conflict with Iraq. NATO member Turkey shares a border with Iraq. (BBC)

South Korea announced that it and North Korea would meet for four days of talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The talks, between cabinet-level government officials, will start Jan. 21. (CNN)

U.N. weapons inspectors visited the Republican Palace, a large presidential residence in Baghdad. (CNN, BBC)

President Bush said the U.S. would consider providing energy resources and helping North Korea restructure its agricultural system if North Korea ended its nuclear weapons program. (WaPost)

A Virginia Juvenile Court judge ruled that 17-year-old John Lee Malvo, the younger of the two sniper suspects accused of killing 13 and wounding 5, can be tried as an adult. If convicted as an adult, Malvo would be eligible for the death penalty. (Yahoo/AP)

In a statement to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Bush opposed the University of Michigan's admissions policy, which gives applicants from "underrepresented minorities" an additional 20 points on a 150-point evaluative scale. The court is considering whether the policy is constitutional. (WaPost)

The FBI said that the whereabouts of 30 vials containing samples of bubonic and pneumonic plague bacteria had all been accounted for. The vials had been reported missing from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center on Tuesday afternoon. (CNN)

Tests indicated that a letter addressed to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board showed possible signs of anthrax contamination. The Postal Service sorting facility where the letter was found was not believed to have been contaminated, but was closed as a precaution, officials said. (WaPost)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1998 Copyright Extension Act did not violate constitutional law or free-speech protections. The so-called Sony Bono Law extends the duration of copyrights by 20 years, to the life of the author plus 70 years. (CNet/Reuters)

President Bush said the U.S. would consider providing energy resources and helping North Korea restructure its agricultural system if North Korea ended its nuclear weapons program. (WaPost)

The U.S. government is concerned about the threat of shoulder-launched missile attacks on passenger planes and is working to develop and implement protective measures, the Washington Post reported. Al Qaeda is believed to have been behind two failed missile attacks on aircraft in the Middle East in the past year. The portable missiles could be smuggled into the United States relatively easily. (WaPost)

Disappointing reports from Intel Corp., DuPont Co. and Automatic Data Processing Inc. pushed stock markets lower. The Dow closed at 8,723.18, down 1.35 percent; the Nasdaq fell to 1,438.80, 1.52 percent lower; and the S&P lost 1.44 percent, closing at 918.22. (Reuters)

Britain's Bloomsbury Publishers announced that author J.K. Rowling had finished writing the long-anticipated fifth installment of her highly profitable "Harry Potter" series. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" will be published on June 21. (Yahoo/WSJ)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1998 Copyright Extension Act did not violate constitutional law or free-speech protections. The so-called Sony Bono Law extends the duration of copyrights by 20 years, to the life of the author plus 70 years. (CNet/Reuters)

The U.S. government is concerned about the threat of shoulder-launched missile attacks on passenger planes and is working to develop and implement protective measures, the Washington Post reported. Al Qaeda is believed to have been behind two failed missile attacks on aircraft in the Middle East in the past year. The portable missiles could be smuggled into the United States relatively easily. (WaPost)

The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission will be delayed by up to two-and-a-half years, as the ESA works to fix a fault with the Ariane 5 launcher and adjusts the Rosetta's mission plan. The probe had been scheduled to launch this month and land on the comet Wirtanen in 2010. (Nature)

The FBI said that the whereabouts of 30 vials containing samples of bubonic and pneumonic plague bacteria had all been accounted for. The vials had been reported missing from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center on Tuesday afternoon. (CNN)

The development of a leukemia-like condition in a second patient in a French gene-therapy trial prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after deliberation, to place a temporary hold on 27 similar trials involving hundreds of patients in the U.S. The French trial has so far successfully treated nine of 11 young boys for a fatal immune deficiency. (NYT, FDA.gov)

The FBI said that the whereabouts of 30 vials containing samples of bubonic and pneumonic plague bacteria had all been accounted for. The vials had been reported missing from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center on Tuesday afternoon. (CNN)