BAGHDAD — Gunmen killed the coach of Iraq's national karate team yesterday in Mosul, underscoring the dangers still facing this northern city less than two weeks before a deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from urban areas.

Izzat Abdullah, a 45-year-old Sunni, was shot to death near his house in an eastern section of Mosul, according to police and sports officials.

Also yesterday, the U.S. military said an American soldier died as the result of a noncombat-related incident. The death means at least 4,316 members of the U.S. military have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

ILLINOIS SENATOR AVOIDS PERJURY CHARGE

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — U.S. Sen. Roland Burris won't face a perjury charge over statements he made to state lawmakers investigating how he got his job, but the junior senator still faces the task of salvaging his political future and shaking the stigma of his link to the disgraced former governor who put him in office.

Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt announced yesterday there was insufficient evidence to prove Burris lied to a state House impeachment committee investigating then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's choice of Burris to fill President Obama's vacant Senate seat. The FBI had arrested Blagojevich three weeks earlier on an array of corruption charges, including one that he tried to auction off the Senate seat in exchange for political or personal cash.

While Schmidt decided a jury wouldn't call the senator's statements lies, he said they were "incomplete."

PASSPORTS NOW REFLECT GAY MARRIAGES

BOSTON — Gay couples traveling overseas can now show passports that feature their married names, letting them take advantage of a little-noticed revision to State Department regulations that critics had feared would undermine the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

The notice of the change says it does not mean the State Department is recognizing the validity of same-sex marriages and civil unions, but that it was to comply with an amendment to the Code of Federal Regulations that took effect in February 2008. The name-change revision took effect May 27 in an addition to the State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual. It allows same-sex couples to obtain passports under the names recognized by their state through their marriages or civil unions.

1 IN 4 SOUTH AFRICAN MEN ADMIT TO RAPE

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A leading South African research group said one in four male South Africans it surveyed admitted to committing rape — a finding that cast a harsh light on a culture of sexual violence that victims groups say is deeply embedded in society.

According to police statistics, about 36,000 women were raped in 2007. But victim support groups and government-backed research say the vast majority of rapes go unreported because of the stigma and trauma involved. South Africa is home to about 50 million people.

The government-funded Medical Research Council said it conducted the survey to deepen understanding of men's attitudes and behavior.

SURFERS ACCUSED OF PADDLING MARIJUANA

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — Two men paddling surfboards off Southern California have been arrested on suspicion of marijuana smuggling.

Customs and Border Protection said in a statement yesterday agents arrested the men, ages 27 and 30, after they were spotted late Thursday about 200 yards off Imperial Beach, a city just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

CBP said a helicopter was dispatched to track down the surfers, who were towing a third board piled with 141 pounds of marijuana held down with duct tape. CBP said the men, who were not identified, were illegal immigrants from Mexico.

CITY, FAMILIES SETTLE IN ’04 GORILLA ATTACK

DALLAS — The Dallas City Council has approved a $500,000 settlement for two families attacked by a gorilla at the Dallas Zoo in 2004.

The City Council, which oversees the zoo, approved the settlement in a special meeting yesterday. The settlement is meant to compensate the victims for physical injuries and emotional trauma.

Police killed the animal after he escaped his enclosure and went on a rampage in the zoo. Keisha Heard, her 3-year-old son and Cheryl Reichert were injured. Heard was visiting the zoo with her niece and two sons; Reichert brought her three children.