Soldier dies amid increasing attacks by Afghan militants
Kabul, Afghanistan – A U.S.-led coalition soldier and 10 suspected Taliban militants died in the latest clashes to roil southern and eastern Afghanistan, while security was tightened in Kabul after a series of bombings, officials said Thursday.
The attacks have raised fears that Taliban militants are bringing their fight to the capital, nearly five years after their ouster in a U.S.-backed military campaign.
In eastern Afghanistan, militants opened fire on a coalition patrol in Paktika’s Gayan district, killing one soldier. A 10-year old girl was also wounded in Wednesday’s firefight, and was in stable condition after surgery, a coalition statement said.
The statement did not identify the dead soldier or give a nationality.
President Hamid Karzai vowed that bombings targeting government officials and army officers in Kabul on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing one person and wounding about 60, wouldn’t shake Afghans’ hopes for peace.
“The enemies of Afghanistan once again showed by attacking innocent civilians that they want to bring misery and destruction to Afghanistan, but the people of Afghanistan will never allow this to happen,” Karzai said from Tokyo, where he’s attending a conference.
“Afghanistan will continue to rebuild its security institutions and these incidents will never hurt the desire of the Afghan people for a better future.”
KINSHASA, Congo
Pilot hurt in attack on U.N. helicopter
A U.N. helicopter carrying seven people came under fire in Congo’s eastern Ituri province Thursday, and one of its pilots was injured, a U.N. spokesman said.
The craft had been dropping leaflets asking militants in the violence-racked region to put down their arms before elections set for July 30, U.N. spokesman Carmine Camerini said.
The incident occurred as calls for the disarmament of militias accelerate with only weeks before the election – Congo’s first in more than 40 years.
BEIJING
Blast in home kills 43; mine explosives eyed
An explosion in a home killed at least 43 people today in a coal-mining region where fatal accidents due to mishandled explosives are common, the government news agency said.
Another 28 people were injured in the 6:30 a.m. blast in the village of Dongzhai in Shanxi province, the Xinhua News Agency said. The cause was under investigation.
Shanxi is home to many unlicensed workshops that make explosives for mining in conditions that do not meet safety standards. The explosives are often improperly stored in private homes.
LOVINGTON, N.M.
Race gives lizards their day to scamper
They dashed their way down a ramp, tickled by feathers to make them move faster.
It was the 27th annual World’s Greatest Lizard Race, part of Lovington’s Fourth of July celebration.
The race featured 16 lizards of every shape, size and color. Some were pets, while others were captured for the occasion.
A green iguana named Fred Zard, who traveled 900 miles from Lakeside, Calif., won Tuesday’s iguana race by default – he was the only entrant. His owner, Dave Jones, made the 13-hour drive after a friend told him about the event.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got to go see this because I’m a lizard freak,”‘ Jones said.
The regular lizard race was won by Miss Hissy Fit, owned by 9-year-old Madeleine Granath of Lovington.
HOUSTON
Grandma: Yates kids asked about filled tub
Nearly two months before Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family bathtub, her two oldest sons rushed into the living room and asked their grandmother why their mother was filling the tub with water, the older woman testified Thursday.
Dora Yates, testifying for the defense in the second week of Andrea Yates’ murder retrial, said she didn’t know why her daughter-in-law filled the tub more than half full that day in May 2001.
“I asked her why … and she said, ‘Because I might need it,”‘ Dora Yates testified.
Andrea Yates was convicted of capital murder in 2002, but her conviction was overturned by an appeals court because of erroneous testimony.
In her retrial now underway, she again pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. Her attorneys have never disputed that she killed the youngsters but say she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and didn’t know her actions were wrong.
NEW YORK
DNA evidence clears man convicted of rape
A man who spent more than two decades in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a brutal rape was freed Thursday because DNA evidence has cleared him.
Relatives of Alan Newton, 44, whooped loudly as he entered the crowded courtroom.
Newton stood quietly in a beige suit and bright blue shirt as Judge John Byrne signed the order declaring him free.
After his paperwork was processed, he stepped outside the courthouse, thanking his attorneys and offering his sympathy to the woman whose rape led to his wrongful conviction.
“My unjust conviction denied both of us justice,” Newton said. “It opens up old wounds and denies her closure.”
He said he planned to enjoy a home-cooked meal and visit the New Jersey grave of his mother, who died about 10 years ago.
