BAGHDAD — Insurgents linked to al-Qaida issued a video today claiming they killed all three U.S. soldiers captured in an ambush last month. "They were alive and then dead," a voice said during a sequence of images that included the military IDs of two Americans still missing.

The nearly 11-minute video by an al-Qaida front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, offered no proof that the soldiers were killed and buried. The U.S. military insisted the massive manhunt south of Baghdad will go on.

"We condemn the tactics used by these terrorists, and are using all means available to pursue those responsible," said Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the chief military spokesman in Baghdad. "We continue to search and hope that our two missing soldiers will be found alive and in good health."

The video, posted on a militant Web site, included grainy black-and-white footage said to have been taken during the May 12 pre-dawn ambush. It also showed credit cards, money and other personal items the militants called "booty." A headline said: "Bush is the reason of the loss of your POWs."

The video was likely a show of strength by al-Qaida-linked militants, who find themselves increasingly engaged in violent battles against more moderate Sunni insurgents in Iraq.

Grand jury indicts Louisiana Rep. Jefferson in bribery investigation

WASHINGTON — Louisiana congressman William Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and sought millions more in nearly a dozen separate schemes to enrich himself by using his office to broker business deals in Africa, according to a federal indictment today.

The charges came almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer.

The indictment lists 16 counts, including racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 235 years.

He is the first U.S. official to face charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits corporate bribery overseas.

Jefferson, through his lawyer, claimed innocence. He will be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

The schemes were complicated and Jefferson set up front companies to hide the money and disburse it to family members, prosecutors said.

Judges at Guantanamo throw out 2 cases, a reversal for Bush administration

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — Military judges dismissed charges today against a Guantanamo detainee accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, throwing up roadblocks to the Bush administration's attempt to try terror suspects in military courts.

In back-to-back arraignments for Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen and Canadian Omar Khadr, the U.S. military's cases against the alleged al-Qaida figures dissolved because, the two judges said, the government had failed to establish jurisdiction.

They were the only two of the roughly 380 prisoners at Guantanamo charged with crimes, and the rulings stand to complicate efforts by the United States to try other suspected al-Qaida and Taliban figures in military courts.

Hamdan's military judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, said the detainee is "not subject to this commission" under legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Bush last year. Hamdan is accused of chauffeuring bin Laden's vehicle and being the al-Qaida chief's bodyguard.

Defense attorneys argued that the new Military Commissions Act, written to establish military trials after the U.S. Supreme Court last year rejected the previous system, is full of problems.

Leader of Muslim group in Trinidad denies link to alleged New York airport terror plot

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — The leader of a radical Trinidadian Muslim organization said today his group had no connection to four men accused of planning to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Yasin Abu Bakr, the leader of Jamaat al Muslimeen, told The Associated Press he knew nothing about the alleged plan to bomb a fuel pipeline feeding the airport, a plot authorities say was hatched by a group that included a former opposition member of Guyana's parliament.

"I know nothing about these men, and I have nothing to do with whatever they are being charged for," Abu Bakr said in his first public comments since U.S. authorities disclosed the plot on Saturday.

Two of the suspects — Abdul Kadir, the former Guyanese lawmaker, and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad — are in custody in Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean island nation off the coast of Venezuela. Both were arrested there on Friday.

A third suspect, Abdel Nur of Guyana, is believed to be at large in Trinidad where authorities are searching for him. The fourth suspect, Russell Defreitas, is former JFK air cargo employee who was arrested in New York. He is a U.S. citizen native to Guyana, a former Dutch and British colony on the northern coast of South America.

GOP presidential rivals clash over bipartisan immigration bill

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Republican presidential hopefuls John McCain and Mitt Romney clashed today over the immigration bill, with McCain embracing the measure as a practical solution and Romney dismissing it as unworkable.

Speaking in politically crucial Florida, with its heavy concentration of Cuban and Haitian immigrants, McCain argued that while the bill is imperfect, it is an attempt to secure U.S. borders, help the economy and identify those who have entered the nation illegally.

The four-term Arizona senator chided rivals who are trying to score points on the issue. McCain never mentioned any names but his target was obvious — Romney.

"To want the office so badly that you would intentionally make our country's problems worse might prove you can read a poll or take a cheap shot, but it hardly demonstrates presidential leadership," McCain told members of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.

More illegal immigrants prosecuted for smuggling children across border

PHOENIX — An increasing number of illegal immigrants who left their children back home are hiring complete strangers to bring the youngsters into this country by bluffing their way past U.S. border inspectors.

Typically, the stranger poses as the child's mother or another relative as she drives through a checkpoint. Sometimes the children are given cough syrup to sedate them and ensure they don't say or do anything to make border guards suspicious.

U.S. officials say they are seeing more such cases because stepped-up enforcement along the border has made it more dangerous to sneak into the country by trekking across the desert.

"People who may be afraid or think it's too dangerous to bring a child through the desert when it's 120 degrees think it's better to place a child in the hands of a total stranger," said Roger Maier, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman in Texas.

U.S. officials warned that entrusting children to a stranger is foolish, too.

Scientists discover 24 wildlife species in Suriname

PARAMARIBO, Suriname — A frog with fluorescent purple markings and 12 kinds of dung beetles were among two dozen new species discovered in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname, scientists said today.

The expedition was sponsored by two mining companies hoping to excavate the area for bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminum, and it was unknown how the findings would affect their plans.

Scientists discovered the species during a 2005 expedition led by the U.S.-based nonprofit Conservation International in rainforests and swamps about 80 miles southeast of Paramaribo, the capital of the South American country, organization spokesman Tom Cohen said.

Among the species found were the atelopus frog, which has distinctive purple markings; six types of fish; 12 dung beetles; and one ant species, he said.

The scientists called for better conservation management in the unprotected, state-owned areas, where hunting and small-scale illegal mining is common.

Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson says he wants to act in Bollywood movies

MUMBAI, India — Mike Tyson wants to try something new — acting in Bollywood movies. Tyson said the energy on the sets of a music video he recently shot for a new comedy got him thinking about trying to do more Bollywood work, The Times of India reported today.

The former heavyweight boxing champion said in an interview that Firoz Nadiadwala, producer of "Fool n Final," had approached him with a script.

"Firoz has discussed a movie with me," the newspaper quoted Tyson as saying.

"We seriously intend to work toward it," he said, without disclosing any details.

Tyson, 40, danced to Bollywood music at a two-day shoot in Las Vegas last month for a music video to promote "Fool n Final," about a diamond heist.

U.S. stocks regain footing after Chinese market plunges

NEW YORK — Wall Street recovered from a mostly down session today, eking out a gain as investors brushed off another slide in Chinese stocks.

The market had little in the way of corporate or economic news to give it direction, but while it was in negative territory for much of the day, in the end it shook off an 8.3 percent slide in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index. The Chinese index had its biggest one-day drop since the Feb. 27 plunge that set off a brief global market selloff as the Chinese government attempts to cool the country's market boom.

Investors used today to adjust positions after both the Standard & Poor's 500 index and Dow Jones industrial average surged to record closes in the previous session. The market was encouraged by economic data released last week that suggested the economy was slowing, but not too quickly, and inflation remained in check.

However, the Commerce Department reported Monday that orders to U.S. factories were weaker than expected in April. Investors might find some information to trade with the release of the Institute of Supply Management's service sector index on Tuesday, but not much other information is expected.

Martin Truex Jr. earns first career win for DEI

DOVER, Del. — DEI returned to Victory Lane with a junior — Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s unheralded and previously winless teammate, Martin Truex Jr. After another weekend of nonstop Earnhardt speculation, Truex gave the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team a much-needed victory in the 400-mile race at Dover International Speedway today.

"It feels good to hush up all that and solidify the fact that we are here for real," Truex said. "We are going to win races and contend for championships in the future."

But news of longtime NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr.'s death overshadowed Truex's first career victory and even silenced the Earnhardt rumors, at least for a while.

Truex won for the first time in 58 career points races on what the New Jersey native has long considered his hometown track. He ended a dominant five-race winning streak for Hendrick Motorsports, leading 216 of the 400 laps on the Monster Mile in NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.