Wilson said Javier Guzman Martinez, 17, and Noel Darwin Hernandez, 22, both of Mexia, had been arrested for the crime and were charged Thursday with aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping.

The suspects began following the woman late Tuesday night as she left Mexia, about 40 miles east of Waco, where she was visiting friends, authorities said. The suspects did not know the woman.

The woman told investigators she was driving at about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday on a state highway toward her home in a Limestone County town when a car rammed her sport utility vehicle and forced her off the road, Wilson said.

The woman told investigators that the men forced her into their car, and then drove around rural county roads while they sexually assaulted, stabbed and beat her, Wilson said.

The woman said the men left her about a mile south of Coolidge in a ditch, where she pretended to be dead until they left, Wilson said. She then found help at a nearby trailer.

Dena Lincoln said the woman, covered in blood, came to her trailer door at about 4:30 a.m.

"I will never, as long as I live, get that look that was on her face out of my mind," Lincoln said. "She kept saying, 'I'm going to die. I'm going to die.' I told her, 'No, honey, you are going to be all right. We are going to get you some help.'"

The woman was flown by helicopter to a Temple hospital with numerous cuts and stab wounds, including an injury that endangered one eye, Wilson said.

Wilson said investigators canvassed the area on Wednesday with the description of the suspects given by the women.

Officers found Martinez at his Mexia residence. Wilson said he confessed to the incident and told officers of Hernandez's involvement. U.S. Marshall's tracked Hernandez to a Waco bus station, where he was arrested Wednesday night.

Martinez was being held in the Limestone County Jail while Hernandez was to be transferred to Limestone County from McLennan County, officials said. Wilson said both men are apparently in the United States illegally and will be held without bond on immigration charges. Hernandez is from Honduras, and Martinez is from Mexico, Wilson said.

Lucas D. Palmer, 25, was wanted in a February slaying in his hometown of Lacombe, La., said Capt. George Bonnett, spokesman for the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office. Neighbors at the Atlanta-area apartment complex said Palmer fled Louisiana after Katrina and had gotten out of jail hours before the shootout.

Stepnowski and another officer were on patrol when they saw a man who seemed suspicious and chased him, police spokesman Sgt. Charles Dedrick said.

At some point during the chase, "shots were fired," Dedrick said, without elaborating on who fired first.

Police shot the man to death in a grassy area bordered by a playground between four apartment buildings.

Witnesses said they heard at least 10 shots in rapid succession.

Neighbor Torrey Gails, 16, said Stepnowski was shot a couple of times in the throat before another officer shot the man they were chasing. Neighbor Vaughn Smith said the men were shot a few feet apart from each other, separated by a cluster of oak trees.

Stepnowski, who was married, was a member of the police SWAT unit and had been with the department for 10 years, his colleagues said.

The driver, Michael Bowen, 18, was taken to a hospital in Louisville, Ky., about 40 miles away, officials said. Police said Bowen was slumped over the steering wheel as the vehicle approached a crowd barrier along the riverfront. He was unconscious when he was pulled from the water, Madison Police Chief Bob Wolf said.

A juvenile passenger in the car also was hospitalized.

Police did not know what caused the accident, but said charges could be filed. A news conference was scheduled for Monday morning.

Police said the car drove through the crowd, hit a golf cart used by officials who ducked for cover and then went airborne.

Madison is in southeast Indiana, midway between Louisville and Cincinnati. The annual race for unlimited hydroplanes draws thousands of people to the riverside community of about 13,000 every Fourth of July weekend.

Protesters representing teachers and other workers as well as anti-racism, animal rights and harbour protection groups were also at the rally.

Police estimated that the turnout was about 28,000, while organisers said 58,000 marched, more than last year's 20,000 people.

Amid fading calls for democracy nine years after the 1997 handover, activists hoped the appearance of retired deputy leader secretary Anson Chan would reignite their once-formidable campaign for universal suffrage.

Chan said that her highly-publicised decision to join the protest was not an act of defiance against the government she once served.

"Today I come to take part in the march in support of democracy but this doesn't mean we are trying to challenge the government," Chan said, flanked by pro-democracy legislators and surrounded by hoards of photographers and reporters.

Wearing a broad-brimmed hat to brave the scorching weather, she dismissed claims that the booming economy had reduced Hong Kongers' hunger for democracy.

"Although the economy has been good it doesn't mean we don't need democracy. I call for people to come out and support democracy," she said, marching with her children in front of a banner that read: "Democracy is Key to Harmony".

Chan was cheered and applauded by the public along the way but was also shouted abuse by an elderly woman which caused brief chaos.

At the march, wheelchair bound protester Xo Kam-mui criticised the Chinese government for its tight control on the territory.

"The Chinese government said they want to build a harmonious and stable society but how can we be prosperous if we aren't allowed to choose our own chief executives? We don't have confidence in the government," he said.

Kwan Chun-yu, 45, who came with his family of four, turned out to fight for what he said was basic human rights.

"This is our right to be able to elect our leaders. A lot of developed countries are allowed this but why should we have to fight for it like this every year?"

In response to Saturday's march, the pro-Beijing camp held a celebration earlier in the day that included performances by Hong Kong-based Chinese troops, cultural groups and local pop stars.

The traditional handover anniversary speech by the city's political leader, Donald Tsang, was interrupted by outspoken pro-democracy legislator Leung Kwok-hung.

Leung, nicknamed Long Hair for his waist-length tresses, was hustled out of the auditorium by police after he began shouting slogans during Tsang's address.

The pro-democracy rallies began in 2003 when more than 500,000 people protested over issues including a proposed anti-subversion law forced upon the city by China. The law was later shelved.

In 2004 hundreds of thousands again marched to push for democracy in the wake of a ruling by China that stymied calls for urgent reform of the electoral system.

The city's chief executive is chosen by an 800-strong, Beijing-backed panel and only half the 60 members of the legislative council are directly elected.

Chan's high-profile decision to run has rekindled speculation she could be preparing a leadership challenge next year to chief executive Tsang.

At the march, Chan did not rule herself in or out, only saying she will take one step at a time. If she runs she will have to counter Tsang's popularity and win over Beijing loyalists on the election panel.

With some 76 percent of the public saying they would back Tsang's re-election, democratic lawmaker Ronny Tong called for continuous support from the people for democracy.

"This shows our determination and commitment. If we don't come out, we might never see universal suffrage in our life time. We have to let the government know that we haven't given up," he said.

"We haven't viewed this as a security breach at this point," Darren Irby, spokesman for the national American Red Cross office, told The Dallas Morning News for its Saturday editions.

The laptop was one of three stolen from a locked closet in the Farmers Branch office of the American Red Cross in May, but the two others did not contain the personal information. There was no sign of forced entry, said Red Cross spokeswoman Audrey Lundy.

Local officials alerted police and national Red Cross offices, Lundy said. Donors were not notified about the missing information, and the Red Cross had no legal obligation to do so.

The laptops disappeared on two separate occasions in May, according to police reports. They could have been gone as long as a week before being reported missing.

Gordon Bass, acting chief information security officer for the national Red Cross, said supervisors have their own user names and passwords. Access is time-and-date based, so information can be accessed only during blood drives or when new information is uploaded to a central database.

The Farmers Branch Red Cross also lost a laptop with encrypted donor information in June 2005, Lundy said, but she could provide no details on circumstances of that incident or any follow-up investigation.

Security in the Farmers Branch office was tightened after the most recent disappearances, Lundy said.

A person whom the FBI did not identify turned the laptop in to the agency's Baltimore office on Wednesday, officials and veterans organizations said.

FBI spokeswoman Michelle Crnkovich said that no charges were filed against that individual, and that she no information on where the laptop was between the time of the theft and when it was turned in.

The theft of the laptop from a VA employee who had brought it to his home in Aspen Hill, Maryland, raised fears that nearly all military personnel were at risk of identity theft. Authorities have said the theft as part of a routine burglary in which other items were taken.

BIPARTISAN BLAST

Lawmakers and veterans' advocates have voiced alarm that the government failed to safeguard the data that included
Social Security numbers and disability ratings that could be used in credit card fraud and other crimes.

Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, said "we are all holding our breath now for the FBI forensic analysis which we hope will confirm that the data has not been compromised."

Republicans and Democrats had blasted the administration for allowing the data to be lost and for responding slowly to the theft. Officials have said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson was first told of the May 3 crime on May 16 and only informed the public on May 22, almost three weeks after the theft occurred.

Cost of the theft was piling up for taxpayers. The White House this week asked Congress for $160 million to offer credit monitoring to military personnel worried of possible identity theft.

The VA also was spending millions of dollars to respond to the incident, including setting up a special call center to address veterans' concerns.

Rep. Steve Buyer (news, bio, voting record), an Indiana Republican who chairs the House of Representatives Veterans Committee, said that even though he was heartened by the laptop's recovery, the "history of lenient policies and lack of accountability within VA management must be rectified."

Jim Mueller, commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., said those responsible for the data loss and those who knew about the theft but did not tell Nicholson for 13 days should be held accountable.

"The secretary must act swiftly and decisively if he is to restore America's trust in the VA," Mueller said.