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From NPR news in Washington, I'm Paul Brown.

The leader of a militant group in Iraq led by Al-Qaeda has been killed. Iraq's deputy interior minister says Abu Omar al-Baghdadi has been killed in a battle north of Baghdad. He was the leader of what has called the Islamic State in Iraq. That is an umbrella group for a number of Sunni insurgent groups.


A rocket attack on the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad has killed 4 Filipino contractors who worked for the US government. NPR's Mike Shuster has more on that.
The attack occurred yesterday, but was not reported by the US embassy until this morning. In a written statement the embassy expressed its profound sadness and regret for the loss. For several days running the Green Zone has been hit by rocket and mortar fire, but it's rare that such an attack resulted in fatalities. It's not clear whether the rockets were launched by Sunni insurgence, Shiite militia or both. Both groups oppose the US military presence in Iraq as well as the expanded Baghdad security operation underway since February. More than 5,000 Filipinos are employed in Iraq with the US government and military. The Green Zone which is surrounded by concrete blast walls and numerous layers of security checkpoints houses the US embassy in many of the key buildings of the Iraqi government. In April a suicide bomber hit the Iraqi parliament building inside the Green Zone. Mike Shuster NPR news Baghdad.


The House of Representatives has failed to override President Bush's veto of a war funding bill that included a timeline for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq. Legislative leaders from both Parties met with President Bush afterwards and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to reporters later. "We made our position clear. He made his position clear. Now it's time for us to come to try to work together to come together, but make no mistake democrats are committed to ending this war." Democrats appear willing now to drop the troop withdrawal timeline in the funding bill, but they say they will push for benchmarks in further legislation.


Some of the US attorneys that Justice Department fired last year have answered written questions from the House Judiciary Committee. The exchange is a follow-up to the prosecutor's live testimony in March. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports.
The US attorneys' comments are striking for their venom and for their consistency. Each is asked whether the Justice Department warned that they might be fired based on their performances. Each replies no. The fired US attorneys all received a call from Justice official Michael Elston when the scandal started to grow, and according to Bud Cummins of Arkansas all the fired US attorneys interpreted Elston's message the same way quote, they were offended in view the statements by Elston as a threat. One remarked “What's next, the horseback in the bed”. The House Judiciary Committee will hear testimony about the dismissals from James Comey. He was Deputy Attorney General during President Bush's first term. Ari Shapiro NPR news Washington.


It's a holiday in Japan today and there would be no stock-trading.

From Washington, this is NPR news.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Syria's Foreign Minister today in Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt where both are attending a conference on Iraq's further. A state department spokesman tells the Associated Press that two will discuss issues relating to Iraqi security. It would be the first high level talks between the two countries in at least 2 years. Relations deteriorated after the 2005 assassination of a former Lebanese Prime Minister. Syria denies involvement in that. A meeting between Rice and the Iranian representatives at the conference is less certain.


New data show that fewer heart attack patients are progressing to heart failure, probably because doctors are applying recent lessons in cardiac care. NPR's Richard Knox reports.
Heart failure occurs when the heart attack damages the heart muscle so severely that it can't pump effectively. Heart failure has been on the increase in recent decades as doctors save more people from dying of heart attacks. The new study is the first to show a decline in heart failure. It suggests doctors are better not only in preventing heart attack death, but also in limiting heart attack damage. The study involved more than 44,000 cardiac patients in 14 countries. It appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In 1999, 20% of the patients with the worst kind of heart attack suffered heart failure. 6 years later about half as many did. Studies also say a rare improvement in heart attack care seems to be paying off. Richard Knox NPR news.


In the US yesterday stocks jumped again. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed past 13200 for the first time, its second straight record close.

I'm Paul Brown, NPR news.