USA

Former schoolteacher John Mark Karr was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, where he confessed to being with 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in Boulder, Colo., in 1996 when she died in "an accident." The admission was a dramatic twist in the long-unsolved mystery of how the beauty pageant contestant was slain. The arrest of Karr, who disappeared after being released from a California jail in 2001 on child pornography charges, was called vindication by John Ramsey, the girl's father, who lived under a cloud of suspicion with his wife, Patsy, who died in June. The parents had insisted an intruder committed the crime, but investigators were stymied until things came together via a contact Karr had in the US.

US airlines will remain on high alert, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who indicated that US-bound international flights must have passenger names checked against a "no-fly" terror watch list before departing. Currently, airlines don't have to submit such lists until 15 minutes after takeoff.

The New York Yankees broke ground Wednesday on a billion- dollar, open-air ballpark in the Bronx that will replace Yankee Stadium when it opens in 2009. The new stadium is being built just north of the existing 1923-vintage "House That Ruth Built." Below, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg stand with bat-handled shovels.

The Coast Guard announced Wednesday that it had captured accused Mexican crime cartel leader Francisco Javier Arellano Félix in international waters off the Baja California peninsula earlier this week. The arrest came as he was deep-sea fishing. A Tijuana journalist who covers the drug trade calls Arellano Félix a "thug" more than a leader in a family suspected of smuggling drugs into the US.

Federal authorities said there was no evidence of terrorism in the passenger disturbance Wednesday that caused a transatlantic flight headed to Washington to be diverted to Boston. A Vermont woman identified as Catherine Mayo was scheduled to face charges Thursday of interfering with the flight crew.