world

Insurgents bomb teaching hospital

By Alyson Brodsy and Mariam Fam · Monday, Feb. 7,2005 11:12 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgents struck at Iraqi police with a suicide bomb, a car bomb and mortars in the cities of Mosul and Baqouba Monday, killing at least 30 people as they pressed their campaign to undermine the fledgling security forces.

Rumsfeld: Iraq needs time to build forces

By Alyson Brodsy · Sunday, Feb. 6,2005 11:06 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Iraq will need time to build up forces sufficient to handle a potential threat from its neighbors -- specifically Iran -- even after Baghdad proves capable of overcoming the insurgency at home, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday.

Bush releases $2.5 trillion budget plan

By Alyson Brodsy and Martin Crutsinger · Sunday, Feb. 6,2005 11:04 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's $2.5 trillion budget is shaping up as his most austere, trying to restrain spending across a wide swath of government from popular farm subsidies to poor people's health programs.

Rice: Israel has to face 'hard decisions'

By Alyson Brodsy and Anne Gearan · Sunday, Feb. 6,2005 11:02 p.m.

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that Israel has some "hard decisions" to make as it moves toward peace with the Palestinians and the creation of a neighboring democracy.

Attacks around Iraq claim 30

By Alyson Brodsy and Hamza Hendawi · Friday, Feb. 4,2005 12:12 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Once again, the highway to Baghdad airport was a scene of mayhem: a mangled vehicle hit by a suicide blast, a helicopter ferrying away casualties. With the airport freshly reopened following landmark elections, insurgents were back in action Thursday on one of Iraq's deadliest roads.

President Bush launches 5-state Social Security tour

By Alyson Brodsy and David Espo · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 11:45 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush challenged a wary Congress on Thursday to "put partisanship aside and focus on saving Social Security," promoting his idea that would combine reduced government benefits for younger workers with the prospect of higher retirement checks from personal investment accounts.

Israel approves release of 900 Palestinian prisoners

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 11:27 p.m.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Cabinet ministers on Thursday approved the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners and a military pullout from the West Bank town of Jericho within days in overtures intended to improve the climate ahead of next week's Mideast summit.

Shiites leading early in Iraq voting

By Alyson Brodsy and Bassem Mroue · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 11:25 p.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Partial election results from six of Iraq's 18 provinces showed the cleric-endorsed Shiite ticket running strongly for seats Thursday in the National Assembly.

U.N. rebukes oil-for-food chief's conduct

By Alyson Brodsy and Edith M. Lederer · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 11:24 p.m.

NEW YORK -- A sweeping investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program accused program chief Benon Sevan of a conflict of interest, saying Thursday his conduct in soliciting oil deals was "ethically improper and seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations."

U.S. Senate confirms Alberto Gonzales as attorney general

By Alyson Brodsy and Jesse J. Holland · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 11:20 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Alberto Gonzales won Senate confirmation Thursday as attorney general despite Democratic accusations that he helped formulate White House policies that led to overseas prisoner abuse and was too beholden to President Bush to be the nation's top law enforcement official. The Senate voted 60-36 to put the first Hispanic ever into the job, with all of the "no" votes coming from Democrats. Last week, 13 Democrats voted against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's confirmation.

He shall from time to time give the Congress information of the State of the Union

By Tony Sams · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 1:05 a.m.

The actual West Wing preempted the television drama "The West Wing" Wednesday night, as President Bush delivered his State of the Union address, drawing mixed responses from the IU community looking for domestic policies from the wartime president. Bush's 53-minute speech -- the first of his second term and his fifth overall -- proposed an ambitious agenda balancing a continued presence in the war on terrorism while focusing on American concerns at home.

Greenbacks still falling vs. Euro

By Michael Zennie · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 1:05 a.m.

Similar to the depreciation of an automobile, the value of every dollar in your piggy bank is deflating with each passing day. The strength of the good 'ole greenback, in fact, has been steadily falling during the past several months when valued against the Euro and other world currencies, despite President George W. Bush's support of "strong dollar policies."

Buck doesn't buy much today

By Katie Schoenbaechler and Katie Shoenbaechler · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 12:39 a.m.

One-hundred pennies, 20 nickels, 10 dimes, four quarters. No matter how you add it up; a dollar is a dollar and these days and it doesn't buy much. In Bloomington, with restaurants and stores on every corner it's hard not to spend a buck or $20 on a daily basis. With a perceived sliding economy and prices rising faster than paychecks can be saved, thrifty buying is becoming harder these days. Nothing, it seems, can be bought for $1 anymore.

Pope to remain hospitalized for several days

By Alyson Brodsy and Victor L. Simpson · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 12:29 a.m.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II had a restful night and his condition stabilized after he was rushed to a hospital with breathing trouble, but he will spend several more days at the clinic to recover from the flu, the Vatican said Wednesday.

Police find tsunami survivors on remote island

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 12:28 a.m.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Bureaucratic bungling has blocked food and medicine from reaching 70 percent of Sri Lankans left destitute by the tsunami, a government official said Wednesday, while nine survivors of the disaster were found deep in a jungle on a remote Indian island.

Castro labels President Bush 'deranged person'

By Alyson Brodsy and Vanessa Arrington · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 12:27 a.m.

HAVANA -- In his first public remarks since the United States dubbed Cuba an outpost of tyranny, Fidel Castro called President Bush "deranged" and belittled recent improvements in relations between Cuba and Europe.

New Jersey plane skids into warehouse

By Alyson Brodsy and Wayne Parry · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 12:26 a.m.

TETERBORO, N.J. -- A corporate jet hurtled off the end of an airport runway Wednesday while attempting to take off, speeding across a highway and striking two cars before slamming into a warehouse. About 15 people were injured, one critically, but no one was killed, officials said.

Abbas, Sharon to meet for summit in Egypt

By Alyson Brodsy and Amy Teibel · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 12:25 a.m.

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday accepted Egypt's offer to host a summit between them, raising hopes for a breakthrough in Mideast peace efforts after four years of fighting.

Iraq election illegitimate in Sunni eyes

By Alyson Brodsy and Sameer N. Yacoub · Thursday, Feb. 3,2005 12:25 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's leading Sunni Muslim clerics said Wednesday the country's landmark elections lacked legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting, which the religious leaders had asked them to boycott.

Professor compares 9/11 victims to Nazis

By William Kates · Wednesday, Feb. 2,2005 1:11 a.m.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Citing death threats, an upstate New York college on Tuesday canceled a panel discussion featuring a professor who compared the World Trade Center victims to Nazis. Hamilton College spokesman Michael DeBraggio said multiple death threats were made against both college officials and guest speaker Ward Churchill, who resigned Monday as chairman of the ethnic studies department at the University of Colorado.