World Briefs

The military says four to six crew members were on board but their fate is unknown. The military says it does not know the nationality of the aircraft, which reported a malfunction Thursday while traveling from al-Asad air base to Baghdad International Airport.

Iraqi police in Fallujah say the aircraft crashed in the desert. There were no reports of shooting at the time when the aircraft crashed.

First fuzzy photos of

planets outside solar system

WASHINGTON -- Earth seems to have its first fuzzy photos of alien planets outside our solar system, images captured by two teams of astronomers.

The pictures show four likely planets that appear as specks of white, nearly indecipherable except to the most eagle-eyed experts. All are trillions of miles away -- three of them orbiting the same star, and the fourth circling a different star.

None of the four giant gaseous planets are remotely habitable or remotely like Earth. But they raise the possibility of others more hospitable.

Austrian incest father

Fritzl charged with murder

VIENNA, Austria -- Prosecutors filed a murder charge Thursday against the man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a rat-infested cell and fathering her seven children, saying one of the youngsters who died in infancy might have survived if brought to a doctor.

Josef Fritzl "deliberately decided not to intervene" and save the infant boy's life, said the indictment, which also charges the 73-year-old retired electrician with rape, incest, false imprisonment and enslavement.

Officials said they expected Fritzl to go on trial in March. He faces up to life imprisonment if convicted of the murder charge. Austria, like other European countries, does not have the death penalty.