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WORLD
Eight soldiers killed in bombing
BAGHDAD – Bombers unleashed a wave of explosions in Baghdad and north of the capital Monday, including two attacks that killed eight U.S. service members in the deadliest day for the military this year, American and Iraqi authorities said.
The other blasts targeted Iraqi security forces, militias and civilians, hitting a police station, a hotel, a busy traffic intersection, near a mosque and a hospital.
The combined death toll of at least 22 included 14 Iraqi casualties, on the heels of twin bombings that killed nearly 70 people last Thursday in a Baghdad shopping district, indicated that Sunni Muslim insurgents are reasserting their presence at a time when large-scale attacks had dipped to record lows, Iraqi officials said.
31 casualties in bombings
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Twin suicide bombs that killed at least 31 people and injured 200 in the eastern city of Lahore Tuesday deepened the crisis in the troubled nation and increased the pressure on embattled President Pervez Musharraf, blamed by many for instability in the country.
In Lahore, one bomb targeted the seven-story headquarters of the federal police, which investigates terrorism and human trafficking, and killed at least 16 officers, police officials said.
Another car bomb exploded at a house near the rented Lahore home of Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, which won the largest amount of seats in last month’s parliamentary elections. The blast had no clear target, killing a gardener and his two children at the home of a man who runs a low-key advertising company.
Dalai Lama berates China
BEIJING – Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama assailed China Monday for “unimaginable and gross violations” of human rights in his homeland, as security forces broke up a rare protest by scores of maroon-clad monks near the heart of Tibet’s capital.
The angry remarks by the Dalai Lama in a speech in Dharamsala, India, marked the latest flash point between China and a chief nemesis in the run-up to this summer’s Olympic Games.
The unusually sharp remarks coincided with a rare open protest march by monks in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and came after several days of scathing attacks by Chinese officials, who charge that the Dalai Lama seeks to disrupt the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Summer Games.
NATIONAL
NASA has successful launch
TITUSVILLE, Fla. – It was exactly 2:28 a.m., mission control declared Endeavour and a crew led by a South Florida astronaut “go for launch,” and Chuck Grider gazed eastward with as much attention as he could muster at that hour.
Only 11 more flights are scheduled before the fleet is permanently grounded in 2010, eventually to be replaced by another spaceship.
Eventually is the key word there – NASA hopes to resume human flights in 2015, but most experts believe it will take much longer. That raises the stakes for those who want to share the experience, even if from a distance.
Fed stimulates the market
WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it will provide up to $200 billion in short-term loans, accepting a wide range of mortgage bonds as collateral in a bid to boost credit markets, keep housing finance alive and avoid a recession.
In a short statement, the Fed noted the increasing “pressures in some of these markets” and announced the new loans and a coordinated loan-financing effort with the central banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and the European Union.
Although the announcement was about credit markets, mortgage bonds are at the heart of today’s problems. Mortgage lending has virtually seized up and the mortgage-finance problems have spread more broadly to credit markets in recent weeks, affecting lending for cars, college loans and corporate finance.
LOCAL/BSU
New bill passes for film production
An Idaho bill that aims to give film productions a 20 percent rebate on purchases in Idaho cleared the House 51-17 on Monday.
Last year, the same chamber dumped a similar plan on a 35-34 vote. It now goes to the Senate.
Under Idaho’s plan, productions must spend more than $200,000 before becoming eligible for rebates. Twenty percent of film crews on such jobs must be from Idaho.
Sex offenders’ housing limited
Lawmakers in both the House and Senate have unanimously approved a bill limiting the number of registered sex offenders permitted to live in the same residence.
House Bill 417 is intended to permit no more than two registered sex offenders to live together by amending state land use and planning regulations. It’s aimed at concerns about group homes with a high concentration of sex offenders going into residential neighborhoods.
Library removes sex books
NAMPA – Nampa’s Library board voted Monday to take two controversial sex books off the shelves and place them in a library office.
The board voted 3-2 to keep the books in the library director’s office until the board can further explore the organization’s materials collection policy.
The board listened to 1 1/2 hours of public input both for and against removing the books “The New Joy of Sex” and “The Joy of Gay Sex” from the library. More than 50 people attended the meeting in the library’s basement.
Monday was the third time in the last two years the library board has voted on the issue.
WHAT THE?
Give us the money and no one gets hurt … whap!
Two masked men armed with machetes burst into the Sporting and Community Club in Sydney, Australia, intending to rob the old folks who gather there to play games. But a gang of burly bikers, who had gathered for a meeting in an adjacent room, came to the rescue armed with chairs and tables. It wasn’t pretty.
Yes, it’s obvious to one and all
A man, notorious for public intoxication in Northwest Florida, went to a Waffle House in Niceville where he changed his clothes in the middle of the restaurant. Then he went outside and began beating on the windows and screaming obscenities. He told the cops who arrested him, “You know how I am when I’m drunk.”
World/National/What the? stories courtesy of MCT Campus Wire Services unless otherwise credited. Local/BSU stories are courtesy of the Boise State Web site at www.boisestate.edu. All stories are compiled by News Writers.