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Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 15, 2006

HAVANA - Cuban state television on Monday aired the first video of Fidel Castro since he stepped down as president to recover from surgery, showing the bedridden Cuban leader joking with his brother, Raul, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Castro appeared tired and pale, yet alert in the videotaped encounter, speaking quietly but clearly enjoying himself as he chatted with Chavez, his close friend and political ally. Acting president Raul Castro also was present for the encounter on his brother's 80th birthday.

The videotape showed the friends sharing a snack and looking at an album of photographs showing them together - including one from a trip Castro took to Venezuela during an earlier birthday. Sentimental music accompanied the footage.

NATION

POSSIBLE BIRD FLU FOUND: Scientists have discovered possible bird flu in two wild swans on the shore of Lake Erie - but it doesn't appear to be the much-feared Asian strain that has ravaged poultry and killed at least 138 people elsewhere in the world.

It will take up to two weeks to confirm whether the seemingly healthy wild mute swans in Michigan really harbored the H5N1 virus.

On Monday, the Agriculture Department declared that initial testing had ruled out the so-called highly pathogenic version of H5N1 - but that they could have a relatively harmless, low-grade H5N1 strain instead.

That is the suspicion, making Monday's announcement almost a practice run for the day the more worrisome Asian strain actually arrives.

CANDIDATE ARRESTED: A Democratic candidate for Congress was arrested along with her husband after they got into a fight at their home, authorities said Monday.

Stephanie Studebaker and her husband, Sam, were booked Sunday on domestic violence charges and released on $25,000 bail each, police said.

Studebaker, 45, a veterinarian and first-time political candidate, is running against Republican Rep. Mike Turner for the Dayton-area seat.

Studebaker was unavailable for comment, spokesman Will Evans said. The campaign was suspending all activities "for the time being" because of personal issues, a statement on her Web site said.

Deputies responded to a report of domestic violence at the couple's home in Washington Township, Sheriff Dave Vore said. "Upon arrival, deputies observed evidence there was a physical altercation between the two subjects," he said.

Sam Studebaker, 39, told deputies "his wife had been beating him," and had marks on right upper arm and right upper back, according to the incident report. His wife told deputies he had struck her, and she had marks on her right upper arm, the report says.

TRIAL BEGINS IN NORTH DAKOTA: A convicted sex offender accused of killing a college student after abducting her from a shopping center went on trial Monday in North Dakota's first death penalty case in more than 100 years.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. is charged with kidnapping resulting in the death of 22-year-old University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, who disappeared from a Grand Forks mall parking lot in November 2003. He has pleaded not guilty.

A federal prosecutor told jurors in opening statements that Rodriguez stabbed Sjodin, slit her throat and left her to die in a ditch.

WOMAN WILL BE TRIED AGAIN: A woman accused of breast-feeding her son methamphetamine-laced milk will be retried a third time on a murder charge, a judge ruled Monday.

"It was abundantly clear to the court that the cause of death of the victim was due to methamphetamine intoxication," Riverside County, Calif., Judge Patrick Magers said in rejecting a defense request to dismiss the charge.

Amy Leanne Prien, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence for felony child endangerment, said she woke up Jan. 19, 2002, and found her son dead in bed.

WORLD

JOURNALISTS ABDUCTED IN GAZA: Masked Palestinian gunmen ambushed a car carrying a Fox News crew in Gaza City on Monday and kidnapped two journalists, according to witnesses and Fox.

"We can confirm that two of our people were taken against their will in Gaza," Fox News said in a statement.

A Fox employee in Gaza, who declined to give his name because he wasn't authorized to release information about the incident, said reporter Steve Centanni, a U.S. citizen, and a cameraman from New Zealand were kidnapped.

AFGHAN INSURGENTS TARGET NATO: Insurgents targeted NATO patrols with bicycle-rigged bombs that wounded four alliance soldiers Monday, while gunbattles and a suicide bombing killed 12 suspected militants and six policemen across southern Afghanistan.

The latest fighting comes amid Afghanistan's deadliest surge in violence since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden. Southern and eastern provinces have witnessed most of the ambushes, suicide bombings and military operations since early this year.

SHARON WORSENS: Ariel Sharon's condition has deteriorated, the hospital where the ailing former Israeli prime minister is being treated announced Monday.

A new scan showed a deterioration in his brain function, his urine output has decreased significantly and a chest scan showed that he has a new infection in his lungs, according to Anat Dolev, spokeswoman for the Chaim Sheba Medical Center.