ROME — President Bush signaled Friday the United States will press ahead with a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe despite Russia's heated objections. Poland's president expressed support for installing interceptor rockets in his country.

An upset stomach crimped Bush's schedule on a busy day that took him from Germany to Poland and finally to Italy. The president stayed in bed and skipped morning sessions at the summit of world leaders in Heiligendamm, Germany, and he appeared subdued later after talks in Poland with President Lech Kaczynski.

"Still not 100 percent but better all the time," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said of her boss.

On Saturday, Bush will meet for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI. Large anti-Bush demonstrations are planned in Rome, and Premier Romano Prodi had to ask his Cabinet members to refrain from taking part.

The administration made clear it was not abandoning plans for a missile-defense program in Poland and the Czech Republic despite a surprise counterproposal Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin to instead use a Soviet-era radar tracking station in Azerbaijan.

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Gunmen storm Iraqi police chief's home; at least 77 killed nationwide

BAGHDAD — Dozens of gunmen swooped into a police chief's home Friday, killing his wife and two brothers and kidnapping three of his grown children. The senior officer wasn't there, but the bold attack provided a grisly example of the dangers facing Iraqi forces as they try to take over the country's security so American forces can leave.

The attackers, armed with machine guns and rifles, drove up at 6:30 a.m., then battled their way into Col. Ali Dilayan al-Jorani's house on the outskirts of Baqouba, in Diyala province 35 miles northeast of the capital, according to officers at the provincial police center. Eleven guards also were killed, they said.

They said the attackers arrived in "many cars" and abducted two sons and a daughter of al-Jorani, head of central Baqouba's Balda police station. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared they would be next.

Iraqi police are frequent targets of al-Qaida-linked insurgents bent on ending cooperation between government security forces and U.S. troops in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

At least 751 Iraqi security personnel have been killed since a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown began on Feb 14. During the same length of time immediately preceding Feb. 14, at least 593 Iraqi security personnel were killed, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press. The actual number in both cases is likely higher as many killings go unreported or uncounted.

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FAA computer malfunction causes severe flight delays, particularly in New York area

WASHINGTON — A cascading computer failure in the nation's air-traffic control system caused severe flight delays and some cancellations along the East Coast Friday.

A computer system in Atlanta that processes pilots' flights plans and sends them to air-traffic controllers failed early Friday, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said. In response, the agency rerouted the system's functions to another computer in Salt Lake City, which overloaded due to the increased volume of data, magnifying the problem.

The FAA could not immediately calculate the number of flight delays caused by the problem, which was made worse by bad weather, Spitaliere said. Airlines experienced thousands of delays, some lasting several hours, in what was shaping up to be one of the country's worst days this year for air travel.

Although the computer malfunctions were fixed shortly before 11 a.m. Friday, their impact lingered on into the late afternoon, especially in New York, where computer systems took two extra hours to connect with the central system in Atlanta, the FAA said. Spitaliere said the flight delays in the rest of the country were not as severe.

Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said the problem forced controllers to enter flight information manually, which he described as a time-consuming practice. "With some of these East Coast airports, nothing is getting in right now," Church said Friday afternoon.

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Probe into thwarted plot to bomb JFK airport widening beyond 4 men in custody

NEW YORK — The investigation into the thwarted plot to bomb John F. Kennedy International Airport is widening beyond the four men in custody, with more suspects sought outside the U.S. for their suspected roles, a law enforcement official said Friday.

The defendants identified last weekend were "just a piece of it," the official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of not being authorized to speak publicly. "We are definitely seeking more players. We are targeting others overseas."

The official declined to provide details about the possible suspects, or in what countries they are being sought.

Law enforcement officials, through the use of an informant, were able to undermine the airport plot in its early stages.

The four suspects made trips to the airport, took video and photographs, drew diagrams and collected information. They then hoped to shop their information to individuals with the capacity to pull off their stated plan of causing "greater destruction than the Sept. 11 attacks," the official said.

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Woman convicted of killing preacher husband sentenced to 3 years

SELMER, Tenn. — A woman who killed her preacher husband with a shotgun blast to the back as he lay in bed was sentenced Friday to three years in prison, but with time served could be released on probation in a little more than two months.

Mary Winkler must serve at least 210 days of her sentence but gets credit for the 143 days she has already spent in jail, Judge Weber McCraw said.

That leaves 67 days, and McCraw said up to 60 days of the sentence could be served in a facility where she could receive mental health treatment. That means Winkler might spend only another week in jail.

Prosecutors had pursued a murder charge against Winkler, 33, but jurors convicted her of the lesser count of voluntary manslaughter in April.

"Of course it's a victory," her attorney Steve Farese said. "She could be in prison for life, and that's what everybody thought she was headed for to begin with."

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Atlantis to blast off on first shuttle flight of the year after a weird few months

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A patched-up Atlantis was fueled for liftoff Friday night on the first space shuttle flight of 2007 — a mission that was delayed by a damaging hailstorm and overshadowed by a lurid astronaut love triangle.

The shuttle and its seven astronauts were set to blast off at 7:38 p.m. on a mission to continue construction of the international space station.

Around midafternoon, the crew headed for the launch pad. The forecast looked great and the countdown appeared trouble-free except for the discovery of a loose clamp on the launch platform underneath the shuttle. The clamp holds a pipe in place. No immediate decision was made on whether it needed to be fixed.

During the 11-day flight, Atlantis' astronauts will deliver a new segment and a pair of solar panels to the orbiting outpost. They will also swap out a member of the space station's crew.