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Published: April 15, 2007 12:24 am
AP News in Brief
Opposition clashes with police in Moscow; chess champion Kasparov detained, then freed
MOSCOW (AP) — Riot police beat and detained protesters as thousands defied an official ban and attempted to stage a rally Saturday against President Vladimir Putin’s government, which opponents accuse of rolling back freedoms Russians have enjoyed since the end of Soviet communism.
A similar march planned for Sunday in St. Petersburg has also been banned by authorities.
A coalition of opposition groups organized the “Dissenters March” to protest the economic and social policies of Putin as well as a series of Kremlin actions that critics say has stripped Russians of many political rights. Organizers said only about 2,000 demonstrators turned out.
Thousands of police officers massed to keep the demonstrators off landmark Pushkin Square in downtown Moscow, beating some and detaining many others, including Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who has emerged as the most prominent leader of the opposition alliance.
Police said 170 people had been detained but a Kasparov aide, Marina Litvinovich, said as many as 600 were — although about half were released quickly. Kasparov, whom witnesses said was seized as he tried to lead a small group of demonstrators through lines of police ringing the square, was freed late Saturday after he was fined $38 for participating in the rally.
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Car bombs kill dozens near sacred shrine in Karbala and on major bridge in Iraqi capital
BAGHDAD (AP) — A car bomb exploded Saturday near one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines in Karbala, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 150. At least 16 children were among the dead in the latest horrific assault away from the American-led security crackdown in Baghdad.
A suicide bomber also struck in Baghdad, blowing up his car on a major bridge and killing 10 in the second such attack in 48 hours.
Chaotic arguing erupted in Iraq’s legislature, with the parliament speaker shouting for order as lawmakers squabbled over who was to blame for holes in security that allowed a suicide bomber to mingle among them Thursday and kill a Sunni Arab lawmaker.
The political wrangling underlined the continuing weakness of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government despite a more than 2-month-old U.S.-Iraqi military operation intended to pacify Baghdad and give his regime room to function.
The crackdown, which will land 30,000 additional American troops in Iraq by the end of next month, comes as opposition to the strategy grows in Washington and emerges as a central issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.
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Storm heads east after killing 1 in Texas, pilling snow on central Plains
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A severe weather system blamed for five deaths plowed eastward out of the Plains on Saturday, leaving snow piled more than a foot deep and rattling the Gulf states with violent thunderstorms.
The Northeast prepared for possible coastal flooding.
The storm blew across the Plains on Friday, leaving snow in Kansas and raking Texas with high wind.
“I felt my house start shaking like the wind and I ran in here and grabbed my little girl,” Amanda Rymer, 21, said in Haltom City, Texas. “As soon as I moved her, the roof fell in right where she was standing.”
The storm tore roofs off houses in Rymer’s neighbor and destroyed porches and garages. About a dozen tractor-trailer rigs were blown onto their sides.
One man was killed in Fort Worth by a pile of lumber that fell on him from his truck during the storm, and a police officer in Irving died when his patrol car slid on wet pavement and struck a utility pole, authorities said.
Three people were killed in Kansas in traffic accidents on highways covered with ice and slush, police said Saturday.
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Chicago picked by USOC to bid for 2016 Olympics
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now Chicago takes on the rest of the world.
The Windy City’s bid to hold a Summer Games for the first time moved to the international stage Saturday when the U.S. Olympic Committee capped a yearlong search for an American candidate for 2016 by picking Chicago over two-time host Los Angeles.
“It’s just beginning,” said Patrick Ryan, Chicago’s bid committee chairman. “It’s a long road.”
Having won over the USOC despite lacking venues ready for an Olympics, Chicago’s task is to persuade the International Olympic Committee that it deserves to be the host, joining a group of bidders expected to include Madrid, Prague, Rome, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
The IOC will award the 2016 Games in October 2009.
“This contest ultimately is not about the economics, it’s not about the surplus, it’s about the magic that can be created through the Olympic and Paralympic games, and how that by itself can transform a city, can transform a nation, can transform the world,” USOC chief executive officer Jim Scherr said. “And so we look forward to trying to earn that prize.”
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McCain ends quarter with half cash in bank of 2 main GOP rivals
WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain entered the second quarter of the year with half the cash in the bank that his two main Republican rivals for the presidency reported, a significant challenge for a candidate who is trying to put some luster back to his campaign.
McCain aides said the senator from Arizona had $5.2 million cash in hand after spending $8.4 million during the first three months of the year. McCain, who days ago moved to revamp his fundraising operation, also reported $1.8 million in debts.
Figures that the campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission Saturday showed McCain trailing Mitt Romney in such key financial benchmarks as money raised and money in the bank. He also trailed Rudy Giuliani in money in the bank, though he was nearly at par with the former New York mayor on money raised.
McCain reported raising $13 million for the primary election. Romney, the fundraising leader, collected $20.7 million and Giuliani raised $13.6 million for the primary. Romney reported having $11.9 million in the bank and Giuliani had $10.8 million.
McCain, campaigning in Iowa Saturday, downplayed the significance of the financial figures but blamed himself for not posting higher totals.
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Surgery on injured N.J. governor’s leg successful; source says driver of red pickup found
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Surgery on Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s injured leg was successful Saturday, while state police said the driver blamed for the wreck that critically injured the governor had been found but would not be charged.
Corzine’s recovery was progressing better than doctors expected, said Dr. Steven Ross, head of trauma at Cooper University Hospital. Doctors cleaned a 6-inch wound during surgery on his left thigh.
The governor is not able to speak and not aware of his surroundings because of his heavy sedation. He is expected to remain on a ventilator until at least Monday, doctors said.
“He awakens, answers to simple ’yes or no’ questions about pain,” Ross said. “He won’t remember much of what is going on at this point.”
Corzine was hurt Thursday when the SUV he was riding in was clipped by a vehicle that swerved to avoid a red pickup truck that officials said was being driven erratically. Corzine’s vehicle slammed into a guard rail along the Garden State Parkway in Galloway Township, near Atlantic City.
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North Korea’s failure to meet reactor shutdown deadline unlikely to upend process
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The latest missed deadline in the tortuous years of negotiations aimed at getting North Korea to stop making nuclear weapons is not expected to derail the process, but it is a sign of the lingering mistrust between Washington and the communist nation.
North Korea failed to shut down and seal its sole operating nuclear reactor by Saturday as it pledged to do in February at six-nation talks.
The country insisted Friday it would honor the commitment after confirming that funds frozen under U.S. sanctions have been released — its main condition for disarmament since late 2005.
The only immediate effect of the missed deadline is that North Korea will not receive 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil it was promised — part of a total 1 million tons promised for dismantling its nuclear programs under the February agreement.
The other parties in the talks — the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea — are not expected to raise too much of a fuss, because Washington failed to resolve the dispute over frozen funds within 30 days as it had promised.
The frozen $25 million — held in dozens of accounts at a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau — was only freed this past week due to technical difficulties, just days before the deadline to shut down its reactor at Yongbyon and allow verification by U.N. inspectors.
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Video shows German army instructor telling soldier to envision black Americans, then shoot
BERLIN (AP) — A German army instructor ordered a soldier to envision himself in New York City facing hostile blacks while firing his machine gun, a video that aired Saturday on national television showed.
The president of the Bronx, the New York City borough that the army instructor referred to in his directions to the soldier, demanded an apology from the German military and said the clip “indicates that bias and assumptions and racism is alive and well around the world.”
Coming after scandals involving photos of German soldiers posing with skulls in Afghanistan and the abuse of recruits by instructors, the video seemed likely to raise more questions about training practices in Germany’s conscript army.
The Defense Ministry said the video was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and that the army has been aware of it since January.
“We are currently investigating the incident,” said Florian Naggies, a spokesman for the army and Defense Ministry.
He did not identify the instructor or the soldier.
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Biotechnology trying to make ethanol out of materials other than corn, a global food staple
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The ethanol craze is putting the squeeze on corn supplies and causing food prices to rise.
Mexicans took to the streets last year to protest increased tortilla prices. The cost of chicken and beef in the United States ticked up because feed is more expensive.
That’s where biotechnology comes in.
Scientists are engineering microscopic bugs to extract fuel from a variety of non-corn sources, including the human urinary tract, a Russian fungus and the plant responsible for tequila.
The quest for alternative energy is more complicated than just finding a replacement for petroleum. Scientists and a growing number of biotechnology companies are attempting to remove corn from the ethanol equation because it has created huge demand for the global food staple.
“There is enormous growth potential” for alternative fuels, said McKinsey & Co analyst Jens Riese. “But we need to be smarter than just building the next corn ethanol plant.”
Researchers are racing against time. Already, 114 U.S. ethanol biorefineries are in operation and 80 more are under construction. Producers made nearly 5 billion gallons of ethanol last year, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.
And nearly all of it was made from edible corn kernels.
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As the end of Harry Potter series nears, Internet fans sites remember their own rise
NEW YORK (AP) — Emerson Spartz remembers the good old days. It was Fall 1999, Spartz was 12 and he decided to create a little Web site about a hot new series of fantasy books.
The Harry Potter craze was just beginning.
“The sites were very primitive, especially compared to modern Harry Potter sites. They were amateurishly done,” says Spartz, founder of http://www.mugglenet.com, one of the leading Potter sites. “The biggest Web sites were updated a couple times a week at most, and other than message boards, there was no interactivity between fans.”
Like J.K. Rowling herself, Potter fan sites didn’t start out to make history. They popped up like so many variations of “Wayne’s World,” operated on the cheap by “teenage kids out of their basements,” Spartz recalls.
It’s been 10 years since readers met the boy wizard in Rowling’s first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” More than 300 million copies later, the Potter series ends July 21 when Scholastic Inc. releases the seventh adventure, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
Spartz and his many fellow Webmasters are looking back at their own place on this record-breaking ride. The story of Potter has all along been a story of its fans, and, like everything else about Potter, the fan sites are in a special class, for their size, and for their influence.
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