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WORLD
Tibetan refugees embark on perilous journey
KUNDE, Nepal – Some 2,000 to 3,000 refugees trek across the Himalayas each year. They take no sleeping bags, no tents, no fluffy down jackets and no maps. The lucky ones have guides, and carry sheeting to use as tarps and plastic bags to wrap their feet. Most come in winter, when glacial crevasses freeze shut and Chinese border guards stick close to their heated outposts rather than roaming the frontier.
The steady trickle of refugees bedevils China’s claim that all is well in Tibet.
Some Tibetans chafe that they can’t pursue studies primarily in their own language, rather than Chinese. Many also revere the Dalai Lama, whom they consider a God-king, even though China considers him a “splittist” who wants to shear away Tibet from the motherland. China bans even his photograph.
It also uses force, the locked and loaded version, deploying more armed guards along the Tibetan border to slow the stream of migrants in the run-up to the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.
NATIONAL
Cheney links Iraq invasion to 9/11 attacks
BAGHDAD – Amid tears and wails, mourners in the southern city of Najaf on Tuesday began burying victims from a suicide bombing that killed nearly 50 worshipers and injured dozens of others just before evening prayers Monday in nearby Karbala.
In Baghdad, a long-anticipated Iraqi national reconciliation conference began with great fanfare, then quickly dissolved into the usual sectarian and political stalemates that have marred several similar gatherings in recent years.
But Vice President Dick Cheney gave an upbeat view of conditions in Iraq as he concluded his unannounced trip to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion. Cheney also defended the toppling of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as part of the struggle against terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
This month, an exhaustive Pentagon-sponsored review of more than 600,000 Iraqi documents captured during the 2003 U.S. invasion found no evidence that Saddam’s regime had any operational links with the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Feds take new steps to ease home-loan crisis
WASHINGTON – A federal housing regulator on Wednesday made it easier for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to absorb problem loans that are dragging down many U.S. homeowners, the latest of several measures designed to stabilize falling home prices.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight announced that it would lower the amount of capital that Fannie and Freddie must keep in reserve from 30 to 20 percent. With less in reserve, these two government-sponsored enterprises will have an estimated $200 billion more available immediately to purchase troubled home loans.
Despite promises otherwise, mortgage lenders and loan servicers have moved slowly to modify or refinance loans to homeowners who are behind on their payments. One in 20 home loans nationwide is past due, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Nampa woman stabbed in back yard
NAMPA – Officers were dispatched to a 21-year-old woman who said she was assaulted in her back yard after confronting a male intruder who climbed over her fence.
The victim told officers that she was punched and suffered two knife wounds during the attack: one wound to her upper arm and one to her waist. The victim was transported to an area hospital. The injuries were not life threatening.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 16-to-17-years-old and about 5-foot-8. Police said he wore black pants, a black shirt and a black hat backward and was clean-shaven. He was last seen fleeing the area, possibly with two other people.
Teen involved in attempted kidnapping
Boise police officers continue to investigate an attempted kidnapping that occurred at a Boise gas station Tuesday night.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., police reported a 19-year-old female was sitting on a picnic bench outside a Maverick gas station on the corner of Protest and Boise when a small, bright red pickup pulled up along side her. The woman told police that she was hit on the back of her head, grabbed by the hair and pulled into the passenger side of the pickup truck.
As the pickup was pulling out of the parking lot and turning onto Boise, the victim managed to open the passenger door and jump out of the vehicle, police said.
The suspect is described as a white male in his 20s or 30s, wearing a black baseball cap and a black zip up sweater. Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 343-COPS.
WHAT THE?
Maybe I should have thought this through
a little better
A man robbed a bank in Port Townsend, Wash., only two blocks from the police station and only a half-block from his apartment. The manager of his apartment building saw him running from the bank. In addition to, a local television station happened to be filming nearby at the same time. Time between robbery and arrest: 26 minutes.