1. The man accused of abducting and killing a teenager from Kansas has made a brief appearance in court. Edwin Hall is charged with murdering Kelsey Smith whose body was found in a wooded area yesterday.

2. The small country of Azerbaijan could play a major role in healing the rift between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush. Putin wants the U.S. to let that country play a role in the missile defense system it's building.

3. Paris Hilton is out of the LA County jail, but she's got to stay close to home. Authorities freed the socialite early this morning. They say she is suffering from an unspecified medical condition and have placed her under house arrest.

4. The National Archives has unearthed a missing note from the pages of history. Today they unveiled a handwritten note President Lincoln wrote in 1863, ordering his generals to pursue Robert E. Lee's forces following the battle of Gettysburg. The note was found just last month.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. wooded: adj
A wooded area is covered in trees.

2. rift: n-count
A rift between people or countries is a serious quarrel or disagreement that stops them having a good relationship.

3. socialite: n-count
A socialite is a person who attends many fashionable upper-class social events and who is well known because of this.

4. unearth: verb
If you say that someone has unearthed something, you mean that they have found it after it had been hidden or lost for some time.