With Minnesota’s state government closed for business, the focus shifted Friday to who’s to blame. The shutdown started at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Now the heads of the state’s Republican and Democratic parties each say the other side is responsible.
Pakistan college holds praise bin Laden contest
A competition at the prestigious Punjab University of Lahore, Pakistan, will reward the best poem or essay praising Osama bin Laden, indicating the gains made by hard-line Islamists on college campuses.
As China’s Communist Party turns 90, debate erupts
China is marking the 90th birthday of the Communist Party with celebrations — and an unusually rancorous debate about whether the government needs a major change in direction to sustain the country’s resurgence.
FBI terrorist profile merges two identities
The FBI’s most-wanted list shows a dated black-and-white photograph for the man wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Saif al-Adel, reads the glaring red banner, alias Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi. But an Associated Press investigation found that they are two different men.
Poll shows Americans divided over debt limit
Americans seem not to have awakened to the fast-looming debt crisis that could summon a new recession, imperil their stock market investments and shatter faith in the world’s most powerful economy. They’re divided on whether to raise the federal debt limit, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that found 41 percent opposed to the idea and 38 percent in favor.
Tornadoes, floods deliver blow to state budgets
The tornadoes and floods that pummeled much of the South and Midwest have dealt a serious blow to struggling state budgets, still reeling from the economy.
Judge refuses to dismiss charges in Somali case
Defense attorneys for Omer Abdi Mohamed, 26, accused of helping other young Somalis in Minnesota travel to their war-torn homeland to fight with a terrorist group, have a week to verify an FBI report about a suicide bomber that’s being used to support charges against their client, a judge ruled Wednesday.
FDA issues graphic cigarette labels
The warning labels illustrate negative health effects of smoking.
Bishops pressed to keep child safety plan intact
The head of the child protection committee for U.S. Roman Catholic bishops insisted Wednesday that no significant changes were needed in the church’s abuse prevention policy despite recent revelations that two dioceses allowed priests accused of misconduct to remain in jobs where they had access to young people.
Author’s trial nears end in Ariz. sweat lodge case
A self-help author killed three people by ratcheting up the heat in an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony and ignoring pleas to help those who were passed out on the dirt floor, vomiting or having trouble breathing, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday as she urged them to convict James Arthur Ray of manslaughter.
Secrets of woman with 5 dead husbands die with her
To the outside world, Betty Neumar was a diminutive Georgia grandmother who operated beauty shops, attended church and raised money for charity. But when North Carolina investigators in 2008 reopened a 25-year-old murder case, they discovered that Neumar had left behind a decades-long trail of five dead husbands in five states.
Somalia confirms al-Qaida mastermind’s death
Somalia’s president congratulated government soldiers for killing the al-Qaida mastermind behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said Sunday that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was hiding in Somalia and was responsible for violence in the Horn of Africa nation. Ahmed showed reporters documents, pictures and videos he said government troops recovered from Mohammed.
Wolf killed after escaping Minnesota Zoo enclosure
An endangered Mexican gray wolf was shot and killed Wednesday after it escaped from its enclosure at the Minnesota Zoo. The wolf got out on to the zoo’s Northern Trail and ran toward the bison and prairie dog exhibits. The area was evacuated, the wolf was tracked down and then shot by trained zoo staff because it was considered a danger to people.
Millions displaced by natural disasters last year
About 42 million people were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters around the world in 2010, more than double the number during 2009, according to a report presented by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. That was an increase from 17 million displaced people in 2009. More than 90 percent of the disaster displacements were caused by weather-related hazards.
Army’s 101st pays high price for Afghan surge year
The soldiers of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division came to Afghanistan confident that their counterinsurgency expertise would again turn a surge strategy into a success. Now they are headed home uncertain of lasting changes on the battlefield but certain of one thing: 131 of their number died during the deployment.