USA

The rate at which teens give birth rose 3 percent from 2005 to 2006, its first increase since 1991, government officials said Wednesday of the latest data. The reason for the unexpected reversal was unclear, but critics argued that the government should put more emphasis on contraception than abstinence-only sex education.

A climate-change bill, which sets up a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions, won approval by a Senate committee Wednesday and is expected to be taken up by the full Senate next year. Its goal is to reduce carbon emissions 70 percent by 2050.

The Coast Guard seized a record 355,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of roughly $4.7 billion during the past year, officials said Thursday. Whether the haul occurred because of more efficient enforcement or more drugs in the pipeline isn't clear, but evidence indicates that smugglers are pursuing costlier, more dangerous transport options.

Teenager Robert Hawkins took his own life after opening fire with a rifle at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, killing eight people and injuring five others. Hawkins, a school dropout who was awaiting a court appearance for alcohol possession, had recently split up with his girlfriend and been fired from McDonald's.

Despite being an illegal immigrant, Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes was honored by officials from both the US and Mexico in Nogales, Ariz., for rescuing 9-year-old Christopher Buchleitner in the desert. While journeying into the US, Cordova came upon the injured youngster after the van in which the child and his mother were traveling went over a cliff, killing the mother. Cordova kept the boy warm and fed until they were found by hunters. Cordova (above, with his mother at the presentation) agreed to return home.

The University of Colorado settled a lawsuit Wednesday by agreeing to pay two women $2.85 million. The women alleged that they were sexually assaulted by football players in 2001.

The Democratic National Committee is allowed to strip Florida of its national convention delegates next year, a US district court judge ruled Wednesday. State Democrats had argued that the state party was being illegally penalized for scheduling Florida's Democratic presidential primary on Jan. 29, ahead of the DNC's allowable time frame. Above, attorney Kendall Coffey (r.), representing US Sen. Bill Nelson, who brought the case with a fellow lawmaker, told reporters no appeal is planned.

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