For the more than 2 million Americans who suffer from schizophrenia, the biggest hurdle that comes after their hallucinations, voices, and paranoia have been controlled with medication is the seemingly simple task of conversing. Many have no way of knowing whether the person they're talking to is pleased or annoyed, and a new study reveals why. The condition appears to cause disconnections between nerve cells in the auditory regions of the brain, which prevents the brain from discerning changes in pitch like the deepening of a voice expressing frustration.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Anderson, the chief of staff for Multinational Corps Iraq, told reporters this morning that the troop buildup in Baghdad would be completed by the end of May and that it would be months, and "certainly not weeks," before security began to improve noticeably in the Iraqi capital.
Grozny, Russia—One day last summer, Khamzat Tushayev joined the ranks of the disappeared. His wife, Satsita, trembles as she tells the story, which starts with a June 7 phone call from a man claiming to be with the prosecutor's bureau. The caller asked Tushayev, 47, a former separatist rebel, to come in for questioning—which he did the next morning. "I stayed at the gate, and the guard let my husband inside," she recalls. "I waited and waited. He didn't come back. So I asked the guard to phone the prosecutor's office. But this was what they said: 'There was never any such person here.'"
AP - An al-Qaida-affiliated group said Saturday it killed 18 kidnapped government security forces in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Shiite-dominated police, posting an online video of the officers being shot in the back of their heads while kneeling in a field.
AP - Iraq's prime minister said Saturday he will reshuffle his Cabinet within two weeks and pursue criminal charges against political figures linked to extremists as a sign of his government's resolve to restore stability during the U.S.-led security crackdown in Baghdad.
AP - President Bush handed out hugs to residents who survived killer tornadoes that ripped through Alabama and Georgia and offered encouraging words Saturday at Enterprise High School where students grieved the loss of eight classmates.
President Bush offered hugs and promises of federal aid to people in tornado-hit areas of Alabama and Georgia Saturday. He also urged the public to donate cash for victims. In Enterprise, Alabama, where a tornado smashed a high school Thursday, killing eight teenagers, he said: "You can never heal a heart, but you can provide comfort."