A tsunami that struck without warning overnight Tuesday washed away coastal villages in the western Solomon Islands, killing at least 13 people. The death toll was expected to rise. Bodies floated out to sea, and thousands of residents camped out on a hillside above a devastated town. A wall of water reportedly 30 feet high struck the island of Choiseul and swept a third of a mile inland.
Republican Mitt Romney reported raising $23 million for his presidential campaign during the first three months of the year. It’s shaken up the GOP field and rivaling the total reported a day earlier by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. Meanwhile, the Republican front-runner in the polls, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said his donations totaled $15 million – including more than $10 million raised during March alone. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, at one point considered the Republican to beat, trailed both with $12.5 million, and his campaign acknowledged it had “hoped to do better” in the first quarter of the year.
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from Guantanamo Bay detainees who want to challenge their five-year-long confinement in court. The decision is considered a victory for the Bush administration’s legal strategy in its fight against terrorism. The victory may be only temporary, however. The high court twice previously has extended legal protections to prisoners at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. These individuals were seized as potential terrorists following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Only 10 have been charged with a crime.
A suicide truck bomber targeted a police station in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk on Monday. At least 13 people died and dozens were wounded, including many children from a nearby school, police said. Video by an Associated Press cameraman showed at least four wounded U.S. soldiers and one badly damaged American Humvee. The soldiers were being treated by Army medics, with one seated while having gauze bandages wound around his bloodied head.
