America's most notorious polygamous sect is being investigated as an organised-crime operation, it emerged yesterday, in one of several signs that the net is closing on the group's fugitive leader. Warren Jeffs, the self-declared prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, joined Osama bin Laden on the FBI's most-wanted list at the weekend, and the reward for information leading to his arrest was raised to $100,000 (£535,000)

North Harris Montgomery Community College District leaders agreed under federal pressure Monday to open 90 polling places for Saturday's $250 million bond election. The decision comes three days after the U.S. Department of Justice, responding to complaints from lawmakers and Latino activists, determined the district's initial plan to open a dozen sites — all on college property — limited opportunities for minorities to vote and therefore may violate the Voting Rights Act

Michael Hayden, President Bush's pick to head the CIA, promised Monday to listen to critics of a controversial program to eavesdrop on suspected al-Qaida operatives. "I look forward to meeting with the leaders of the Congress, better understanding their concerns and working with them to move the American intelligence community forward," Hayden said during his formal introduction at the White House

It was just past noon, yet the only sign of life in the main square of this remote eastern village was an elderly man swinging in a hammock on his porch. There was a time, Jose Nieve-Reyes Rubio, 70, explained in a gravelly voice, when the plaza would have been packed with vendors and customers by this hour, their shouts ringing through the air as they bought and sold food, clothing and every imaginable kind of trinket

Two Iraqi journalists were found dead near Baghdad yesterday, a day after witnesses reported their vehicle being stopped by men wearing police uniforms who took them away, said the manager of their television station, al-Nahrain. The bodies of Laith al-Dulaimi and Muazaz Ahmed were discovered beside a main road near their home town of Madain, 12 miles south-east of the capital

The first round of voting for Italy's new president ended in failure last night after Silvio Berlusconi and his allies ruled out a compromise candidate put forward by the centre-left, the veteran former minister Giorgio Napolitano. Mr Berlusconi's supporters rallied behind Gianni Letta, a long-standing associate of the tycoon. But he polled only 369 votes in the electoral college of more than a 1,000 - far short of the needed two-thirds majority

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, sent a letter yesterday to George Bush - the first such communication for 27 years - offering an analysis of global issues and "new ways of getting out of the current delicate situation in the world". The US last night rejected the letter as having no relevance

A 41-year-old New Yorker set off from West Africa in a 24-foot wooden boat on a 3,000-mile solo row across the Atlantic today, hoping to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and commemorate the slave trade. Victor Mooney crawled on his hands and knees through the colonial slave house on Goree Island -- facing the Senegalese capital Dakar -- before emerging at the "Gate of No Return" through which black slaves once boarded waiting vessels

Car bombs killed at least 16 people and injured dozens today in Baghdad and a Shiite holy city, dashing hopes that formation of a new government alone would provide a quick end to the country's violence. At least 25 others were killed or found dead today, including a U.S. Marine who was mortally wounded in the insurgent bastion of Anbar province in western Iraq, police and the U.S. military said

Houston-based Everyones Internet, a Web-hosting company and Internet service provider, has merged with Dallas-based The Planet, the companies said Saturday. Everyones Internet had said on Friday that GI Partners, a California-based private equity firm, had made a controlling investment in it. Saturday's announcement said that GI Partners had also made a controlling investment in The Planet, which provides hosting services