Senate rejects extensive aid bill

Under a Democratic dare, Senate Republicans blocked a bill yesterday that would aid victims of torture, disability, and disease, insisting the legislation would add to the deficit and demanding that Congress first act to lower soaring gas prices. Senate majority leader Harry Reid rolled about three dozen bills into a hard-to-resist measure, dubbing it the "Advancing America's Priorities Act". Republicans, led by Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, sank the bill. The 52-40 vote fell short of the required support from 60 senators to move the bill toward a final up-or-down vote. "They're using every trick to get us away from dealing with high gas prices," said the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. (AP)

Impotence drugs may help carry cancer-fighting drugs through the brain to treat malignant tumors, US researchers reported yesterday. Tests in rats showed two erectile dysfunction drugs - Schering-Plough's Levitra and Pfizer's Viagra - helped carry a chemotherapy drug past the blood-brain barrier, the team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said. (Reuters)

WASHINGTON - The Air Force's logistics chief resigned yesterday, saying the recent leadership shake-up by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has hurt his ability to do his job. In a sharply worded memo obtained by the Associated Press, William Anderson said the changes limit his ability to take care of the airmen and their families with the vigor they deserve. Acting Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley accepted the resignation (AP)

NEW ORLEANS - A US appeals court has refused to throw out prison sentences for two US Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an unarmed illegal immigrant and lying about it. The Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld most of the convictions yesterday against former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. The court vacated their convictions for tampering with an official proceeding, but refused to reverse the convictions that resulted in their sentences. Ramos and Compean were convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively. Both men said they shot at Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, an illegal immigrant and admitted drug smuggler, in self-defense. (AP)