WASHINGTON (AP) — A military official is denying prior knowledge that the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings had any contacts with Muslim extremists. But a Pentagon terrorism investigator looked into Maj. Nidal Hasan's contacts with a radical cleric months ago. The investigator reviewed Hasan's communications and wrote up an assessment. Hasan is suspected of killing 13 people last week.

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden has attended a memorial service in Washington state for seven soldiers killed in Afghanistan last month by a roadside bomb. The service was held at Fort Lewis, an Army post south of Tacoma.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's troops are on high alert, a day after a vessel from the North was nearly destroyed and an officer reportedly killed. Two warships from the Koreas clashed along the disputed western sea boarder. It was the first such encounter in seven years.

JARRATT, Va. (AP) — A Virginia prosecutor says John Allen Muhammad died much more peacefully than most of the convicted sniper's victims. Muhammad was executed by lethal injection Tuesday night for killing a man at a gas station. Nine other people were shot to death over a three-week period in 2002. Muhammad's teenage accomplice is serving a life sentence.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The lights are coming back on in Brazil, where the failure of a hydroelectric plant plunged Rio de Janeiro and other cities into darkness. All of neighboring Paraguay also lost power, but only for about 20 minutes.