SPB News for Thursday

N.H. becomes sixth state where gays can marry — Governor Lynch makes history with the stroke of a pen. — By Eric Moskowitz and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff — Traditionally conservative New Hampshire today became the sixth state in the nation — and the fifth state in New England …

US Pledges Additional $200 Million in Aid to Pakistan U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said the Obama administration is standing beside Pakistan in its fight to defeat create Islamic extremists. During a visit to Islamabad, Holbrooke said the United States has pledged an additional $200 million to assist Pakistanis displaced by a military offensive against Taliban militants.

Huge security clampdown in Cairo for Barack Obama's big speech to Muslim world The biggest security operation ever seen in Egypt was under way tonight as Cairo prepared to welcome Barack Obama for his landmark speech to the Muslim world after a warning of revenge against the US by 'Osama bin Laden.' Unprecedented security measures are in place for Obama's big day in Cairo, of which the centrepiece is a 50-minute address at the city's university tomorrow.

Another Air France plane got bomb threat Aviation authorities said an Air France Buenos Aires-to-Paris flight was was grounded temporarily because of a bomb threat that turned out to be false. Officials at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza International Airport delayed an Air France flight from the Argentine city to Paris May 27 after the bomb threat was called in, The Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

Flight 447 black box may never be found French officials doubt the recovery of black boxes belonging to the missing Air France 447 flight from the bottom of deep Atlantic Ocean. The Chief of French Civil Aviation Ministry's bureau of investigation (BEA), Paul Louis Arslanian said he was "not optimistic" over the recovery of the black boxes, adding that there could be no speculations until everything was "checked and verified."

AIG Charity Grab --Bids to Claw Back Grants to Pay Bonuses Insurance giant AIG is trying to seize a $490 million charitable endowment -- and claw back $27 million it already awarded to New York charities -- to pay executive bonuses, The Post has learned. AIG intends to go to trial in federal court June 15. Legal experts say that if AIG wins its case, it would have the right to sue to claw back some of the $27 million already awarded to charities.

Tillman mom: Army lying again

Operation Rescue adviser helped Tiller suspect track doctor's court dates — KANSAS CITY — When Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller stood trial in March on charges he violated state law in providing late-term abortions, the man now accused of killing him made a point of attending the hearings.

AP source: US broke bombing rules in Afghanistan American troops made substantial errors and did not strictly follow rules for avoiding casualties during an air assault on Taliban fighters last month, a U.S. defense official said, underscoring a central quandary for President Barack Obama's new Afghan counterinsurgency campaign. The defense official said Wednesday that a military investigation faulted some of the actions of American troops in air strikes May 4 that killed dozens of Afghan civilians in Farah province.

Blackwater Accused Again of Murders in Iraq Two more Iraqi families accuse Blackwater, now known as Xe, of murdering their husbands and fathers in Baghdad and covering it up. Azhar Abdullah Ali, a father of three, was a security guard for the Iraqi Media Network when Blackwater mercenaries killed him and two others on Feb. 7, 2007, according to the federal complaint. The family of Rahim Khalaf Sa'adoon claims drunken Blackwater mercenary Andrew Moonen killed Sa'adoon on Christmas Eve, "for no reason," as Sa'adoon guarded the vice president of Iraq.

Chavez accuses US of assassination plot President Hugo Chavez has alleged that US intelligence agencies have been planning his assassination. Mr Chavez said the supposed conspiracy had kept him from visiting El Salvador to attend the inauguration of leftist President Mauricio Funes in El Salvador on Monday.