Bomb kills 4 U.S. soldiers in volatile Afghan region
Kabul, Afghanistan – A bomb killed four U.S. troops when it blew up their armored vehicle Monday in a volatile mountainous region in Afghanistan, the deadliest loss for the U.S. military in the country in four months.
Officials said five Afghan members of a U.S.-backed militia also were killed in a firefight in the southern province of Helmand.
The violence was a reminder of the dangers thousands of British, Canadian and Dutch troops will face when they take over from U.S. forces in southern Afghanistan by midyear.
The four American troops were patrolling with Afghan soldiers along a valley road in Uruzgan province’s Dihrawud district, a hotbed of the insurgency, when they were attacked. After the blast, militants opened fire with guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The troops fought back and called in attack helicopters and fighter planes to pound the militants’ positions.
The bombing raised the death toll of U.S. personnel in the Afghan conflict to 214 since the U.S. invaded the country in late 2001.
GAINESVILLE, Fla.
Shark attacks down in continuing trend
Shark attacks were down worldwide last year, continuing a five-year trend due in part to humans being more savvy about how to avoid being bitten, a monitoring program reported Monday.
There were 58 attacks in 2005 compared with 65 in 2004, and the number of fatal attacks dropped from seven to four, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File based at the University of Florida’s Museum of Natural History.
There were 78 attacks in 2000 – a record year for attacks. Eleven of them were fatal.
WASHINGTON
Amendment vote set on gay-marriage ban
A June vote has been scheduled on legislation sponsored by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., to start amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage.
The same legislation died on the Senate floor in July 2004. Allard’s spokeswoman, Angela de la Rocha, said he is optimistic there will be more support for the bill this time. It has 28 other senators signed on as backers.
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., introduced a similar bill that died in the House in 2004 but hasn’t repeated the effort.
ATLANTA
Adult accused of sex with boy gives birth
A woman accused of molesting a 15-year-old boy she later married gave birth to the couple’s child over the weekend, the woman’s lawyer said Monday.
Lisa Clark, 37, gave birth to a 7-pound, 9-ounce boy Saturday, the lawyer said.
The baby could be put in state custody unless Clark can arrange the necessary paperwork for a friend to take temporary custody before Clark is discharged from the hospital and returned to jail, where she will be held without bail.
Clark’s teenage husband turned up in Ohio this month after disappearing from a juvenile home in Georgia.
LOS ANGELES
Heart condition ruled cause of actor’s death
Actor Chris Penn’s death at age 40 last month was caused by a heart condition, though a commonly prescribed cough syrup probably was a contributing factor, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Monday.
Investigators found that Penn died of “nonspecific cardiomyopathy” – a disease of the heart muscle that is usually fatal over time. Penn’s heart was enlarged and weak and “could have given out at any time,” said coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey.
But investigators also found that the effects of multiple medications were a “significant condition” contributing to Penn’s death. They highlighted one prescription medication in particular – Phenergan, a commonly prescribed cough syrup that contains an antihistamine but is not typically considered dangerous in adults, according to doctors.
MONTERREY, Mexico
2 police chiefs slain in towns near border
The police chief of a wealthy suburb of this bustling industrial city was gunned down Monday, hours after the top police official of another northern Mexican community was kidnapped and shot dead.
It wasn’t clear if the killings were related, but authorities say violence has spiked in Mexico’s northeast border region since the 2003 arrest of the area’s top reputed drug dealer set off a turf war for control of smuggling routes across the border.
Hector Ayala, chief of police for the exclusive town of San Pedro Garza Garcia, was driving in nearby Monterrey, whose metro area is Mexico’s third largest, when a car overtook his vehicle and opened fire.
