world

Militiamen prevent return home of Sudan refugees to Darfur area

By Alyson Brodsy and Ellen Knickmeyer · Monday, Sept. 27,2004 12:55 a.m.

GENEINA, Sudan -- Armed militiamen surged into a western border area where some Darfur refugees attempted to return to their raided village, U.N. security officials said Sunday, raising further concern about how quickly 1.4 million displaced Sudanese could return home safely.

U.S. commander expects troubled Iraqi election

By Alyson Brodsy and Laura Meckler · Monday, Sept. 27,2004 12:32 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. military commander for Iraq said Sunday he expected flawed elections and much violence ahead of the voting scheduled for January. Gen. John Abizaid's assessment followed a week in which President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi spoke optimistically about the situation despite the beheadings of two more Americans and the deaths of dozens of people in car bombings. Friday, the military said four Marines died in separate incidents, adding to a toll that has topped 1,000 since the U.S.-led invasion.

Car bomb kills senior Hamas operative

By Alyson Brodsy and Albert Aji · Monday, Sept. 27,2004 12:31 a.m.

DAMASCUS, Syria -- In a hit claimed by Israeli security officials, a senior Hamas operative was killed in a car bombing Sunday outside his house in Damascus, the first such killing of a leader of the Islamic militant group in Syria. Izz Eldine Subhi Sheik Khalil, 42, died instantly in the explosion, which wounded three bystanders. Witnesses said he was speaking on his mobile phone as he put his white Mitsubishi SUV in reverse before it exploded about 10 yards from his home.

Nader excluded from debates

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 27,2004 12:17 a.m.

WASHINGTON D.C. -- The formal invitations went out Friday for the presidential debates, and there was no gold-embossed card for independent Ralph Nader. The Commission on Presidential Debates asked President Bush and Democratic Sen. John Kerry to meet for their first debate next week. The commission also invited Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards to a single debate on Oct. 5.

Obama inspires Democrats across U.S.

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 27,2004 12:16 a.m.

CHICAGO -- Democrat Barack Obama may soon be coming to a town near you -- whether you're in Illinois or anywhere else in the country. Since giving the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July, the U.S. Senate candidate from Illinois has become a sought-after commodity at national party functions and fund-raisers. With polls showing him well ahead in his race against Republican Alan Keyes, the young, Harvard-educated state senator is using his star status to lend a hand to other Democrats.

Latest hurricane assault leaves Florida battered anew

By Alyson Brodsy · Monday, Sept. 27,2004 12:15 a.m.

HUTCHINSON ISLAND, Fla. -- Jeanne, Florida's fourth hurricane in six weeks, piled on destruction in already ravaged areas Sunday, slicing across the state with howling wind that rocketed debris from earlier storms and torrents of rain that turned streets into rivers. At least five people died in the storm, which was a cruel rerun for many still trying to recover from earlier hurricanes. Jeanne came ashore in the same area hit three weeks ago by Hurricane Frances and was headed for the Panhandle, where 70,000 homes and businesses remained without power because of Hurricane Ivan 10 days earlier.

Bush, Kerry tackle national security, trade

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Sept. 24,2004 12:42 a.m.

National Security : Under what conditions is the United States justified in taking pre-emptive military action against targets in another country?

Gunmen kill 3 soldiers in Gaza

By Alyson Brodsy · Friday, Sept. 24,2004 12:39 a.m.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Palestinian gunmen made their way into a heavily fortified Israeli army post in the Gaza Strip under cover of morning fog Thursday and started shooting, killing three Israeli soldiers in a 45-minute firefight.

Bush says leaving Iraq could foster attacks in U.S.

By Alyson Brodsy and Terence Hunt · Friday, Sept. 24,2004 12:38 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Denying he has painted too rosy a picture about Iraq, President George W. Bush said Thursday that terrorists could "plot and plan attacks elsewhere, in America and other free nations" if U.S. forces were withdrawn. Bush said he would consider sending more troops if asked, but Iraq's interim leader firmly said they weren't needed.

Female Palestinian suicide bomber kills 2 in Jerusalem

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Sept. 23,2004 1:39 a.m.

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian teenager blew herself up at a busy Jerusalem bus station Wednesday, killing two Israeli policemen who stopped her for a security check and wounding 16 bystanders in an attack that evaded Israel's clampdown on the West Bank for the Jewish holidays.

Convention timing gives Bush financial advantage over Kerry advantage

By Alyson Brodsy and Sharon Theimer · Thursday, Sept. 23,2004 1:14 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry cut his campaign spending sharply last month in an effort to stretch $75 million in government funding, but he still started September with several million less than President George W. Bush. Bush's financial advantage heading into the campaign's final weeks stems from the GOP's decision to hold its presidential nominating convention a month later than the Democratic gathering.

U.S. will not release prisoners

By Alyson Brodsy and Alexandra Zavis · Thursday, Sept. 23,2004 1:14 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A senior Iraqi official said Wednesday that a decision had been made to release a top female germ-warfare scientist for Saddam Hussein, but Iraq's leader and U.S. officials moved quickly to squelch the idea that she would be freed soon. Iraqi militants who beheaded two Americans have threatened to kill a Briton unless female detainees are let go.

Lebanese al Qaeda operative, bin Laden aid captured

By Alyson Brodsy · Thursday, Sept. 23,2004 1:13 a.m.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Lebanon said Wednesday it had arrested the top al Qaeda operative in the country and another man linked to Osama bin Laden's terrorist group who were plotting to blow up foreign embassies in Beirut, assassinate Western diplomats and recruit insurgents to fight U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Senior security officials said the two Lebanese men arrested Friday along with eight accomplices were also planning to attack Lebanese security and judicial targets.

Hurricane Jeanne devastates Haiti; death toll still climbing

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Sept. 22,2004 1:18 a.m.

GONAIVES, Haiti -- Blood swirled in knee-deep floodwaters as workers stacked bodies outside the hospital morgue Tuesday. Carcasses of pigs, goats and dogs and pieces of smashed furniture floated in muddy streams that once were the streets of this battered city. Desperate people swarmed a truck delivering water.

Nader's off the ballot in New Mexico and Arkansas, on in Maryland

By Alyson Brodsy · Wednesday, Sept. 22,2004 12:36 a.m.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Judges in New Mexico and Arkansas denied Ralph Nader access to the Nov. 2. ballot in those states Monday, but the independent presidential hopeful won a spot on the ballot in Maryland. In New Mexico, State District Judge Theresa Baca found that Nader does not qualify as an independent under state law because he is running in other states as the nominee for minor parties.

Bush defends decision to invade Iraq to U.N. General Assembly

By Alyson Brodsy and Scott Lindlaw · Wednesday, Sept. 22,2004 12:34 a.m.

UNITED NATIONS -- President George W. Bush delivered an unapologetic defense of his decision to invade Iraq, telling the United Nations Tuesday that his decision "helped to deliver the Iraqi people from an outlaw dictator." Later Bush condemned the beheading of a U.S. hostage by an Islamic militant. Bush's speech to the U.N. General Assembly, running just 24 minutes, appealed to the world community to join together in supporting the new Iraqi interim government.

Former judge lectures on terrorism

By Obaid Khawaja · Wednesday, Sept. 22,2004 12:32 a.m.

Honorable Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia was the guest lecturer for the Branigin lecture on the 'Global response of courts to terrorism' Tuesday in the Moot Court Room of the School of Law. Among the issues addressed in the lecture were the last 'century of terrorism,' European Court of Human Rights cases and recent judicial decisions in countries concerning alleged terrorists.

Web site claims hostage killed

By Alyson Brodsy and Bassem Mroue · Wednesday, Sept. 22,2004 12:28 a.m.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A posting on an Islamic Web site claimed Tuesday that the al Qaeda-linked group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has slain a second American hostage in Iraq. The claim could not be verified immediately. The group kidnapped two Americans -- Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong -- along with Briton Kenneth Bigley in Baghdad Sept. 16. Armstrong was beheaded by al-Zarqawi, and the militants on Monday posted a gruesome video of his death.

Pushing the buttons of education

By George Lyle IV · Tuesday, Sept. 21,2004 2:17 a.m.

Video games, whether you realize it or not, are a big deal. From their humble beginnings at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on an old radar display to today's 3-D modeled masterpieces, video games have become bigger business than both movies and music, worth billions annually. Most of those billions go toward games like Halo or Madden NFL Football, but Clinical Associate Professor Bob Appelman and others in the Instructional Systems Technology division of the School of Education are working to change that.

Particles

By Alyson Brodsy · Tuesday, Sept. 21,2004 1:57 a.m.

$5.5 million awarded to identify important crop and weed genes An estimated $5.5 million, three-year grant was awarded to IU biologist Loren Rieseburg and five colleagues yesterday to be used for the identification of key genes causing lettuce, sunflower, thistle, knapweed and several other crops and weeds in the sunflower family to differ from their wild ancestors. Information gained from this project will be useful to plant breeders, weed fighters and anthropologists interested in the domestication of crops.