Economy plays lead role as Italians vote for premier
Rome – Voters had a chance Sunday to punish Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his conservatives for a flagging economy in elections that saw the flamboyant media mogul and U.S. ally trying to fend off an opposition bloc that includes Communists.
Berlusconi – Italy’s richest man, whose business empire includes Italy’s main private TV networks, a soccer club, publishing and advertising – had been trailing slightly in opinion polls in the premier’s race behind Romano Prodi, an economics professor and former European Union chief who defeated him in 1996 elections.
Publication of surveys was not permitted in the last 15 days before the two-day vote, which began Sunday. Voting continued today.
The ailing economy was at center stage, although neither candidate offered any bold ideas for its revival.
With the campaign almost over, Berlusconi promised he would do away with a property tax. Prodi tried to minimize damage by a Communist ally who said the center-left would bring back an inheritance tax abolished by Berlusconi. Prodi hastened to say only the wealthiest would have to pay. He also promised to cut payroll taxes to try to spur hiring.
CAMARILLO, Calif.
Gas prices have leapt 17 cents in two weeks
Retail gas prices across the country soared an average of nearly 17 cents in the past two weeks, according to a survey released Sunday.
The weighted average for all three grades increased to $2.69 a gallon by Friday, said Trilby Lund berg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations in the country.
Self-serve regular averaged $2.67 a gallon. Midgrade cost $2.76 a gallon while premium hit $2.86 a gallon.
Among the stations surveyed, the lowest average price in the country for regular unleaded was in Salt Lake City at $2.28 a gallon. The most expensive was in Honolulu, where drivers paid $2.88 a gallon.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.
Pilot sues AF over public reprimand
A pilot involved in a friendly- fire bombing in Afghanistan that killed four Canadian soldiers is suing the Air Force, accusing it of ruining his reputation.
National Guard Maj. Harry Schmidt says military officials should not have released to the public the scathing letter of reprimand he was given for the bombing.
His lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, alleges that the military violated privacy laws. It seeks unspecified damages.
The disclosure in July 2004 also violated a settlement agreement that spared Schmidt from being court-martialed for the 2002 bombing that killed four Canadian soldiers and injured eight others, said his lawyer.
HENDERSON, Ky.
More bodies found after SUV’s plunge
Police have recovered the bodies of two of four men missing since a sport utility vehicle they were in plunged into the Ohio River.
The body of Quillon Hughes, 21, was found Sunday afternoon about 150 yards from the boat ramp where the SUV went under April 2, authorities said.
On Saturday, police found the body of Travis Sanners, 23. His brothers – Michael Sanners, 26, and Stephen Parker, 21 – were still missing.
The four men, along with three women, were in the vehicle when it ran off a boat ramp and into the river after the group left a bar around 3 a.m. The bodies of two of the women have been recovered. One survived.
KARACHI, Pakistan
29 killed in crush at Islamic gathering
A stampede at the end of a religious gathering Sunday to mark the birth of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad left at least 29 women and children dead in southern Pakistan.
The stampede occurred as thousands of women were leaving the Sunni Muslim Faizan-e-Medina center in the port city of Karachi after listening to clerics deliver sermons.
The fatal crush happened when a woman bent down to pick up a young girl who had fallen, causing other people behind her to trip.
ROME
Falling tree kills deaf man, injures 7 others
A century-old tree fell on a group of deaf tourists in central Italy on Sunday, killing a man and injuring seven people who were unable to hear a bus driver’s shout of alarm, police said.
The Italian tourists had finished a day of sightseeing and were about to board a bus in a square outside the L’Aquila train station to return to their homes near Rome, police said.
JERUSALEM
Sharon’s health status seen as permanent
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for three months, will be declared permanently incapacitated Tuesday, a decision that signals the official end of his tenure as Israel’s leader, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.
Sharon, 78, was declared temporarily incapacitated after he lapsed into a coma following a stroke Jan. 4. Ehud Olmert stepped in for him immediately as acting prime minister, but under Israeli law he can serve in that capacity for only up to 100 days before an official replacement for Sharon has to be named.
That deadline expires Friday, but because the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday begins Wednesday, the declaration of permanent incapacitation has been moved up to Tuesday.
