Daily briefing from AP news — a feature designed to give you a synopsis of today’s top nation and world stories at a glance, over your morning cup of joe.
VIDEOS:
German authorities discover mass graves
Gore, Bono talk poverty, warming at Davos
Egyptian riot police begin to control masses flowing from Gaza but does not reseal border
RAFAH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian riot police began trying to control the masses of Palestinians flooding from the Gaza Strip Thursday, stopping some from moving deeper into Egypt but not attempting to reseal the breached border.
Helmeted officers with dogs used batons to beat the hoods of Egyptian cars and trucks offering rides to Palestinians seeking goods in towns out of walking range.
Dozens of Egyptian guards pushed their way through the crowds but did nothing to halt the thousands of Palestinians moving over the wreckage of a metal wall brought down by explosives a day earlier.
“We are trying to organize the flow — incoming and exiting — of all these people,” a guard who did not provide his name told a reporter walking through the passage from Egypt to Gaza.
U.S. and Arab officials said Wednesday that Egypt had assured the United States it would soon reseal its border with the Gaza Strip. An Arab diplomat said Egypt told the U.S. it expected the Palestinians’ exodus from Gaza to end by midday Thursday, but a senior U.S. official said Egypt has not been precise about when it will stop the flow.
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Suicide bomber kills provincial police chief at blast site in Mosul; 1 U.S. soldier wounded
BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber on Thursday struck officials fleeing an ambush at the site of a blast in Mosul that killed at least 18 civilians and wounded nearly 150 a day earlier. The provincial police chief and two other officers were killed and one U.S. and one Iraqi soldier were wounded, the military said.
The attacker was wearing an explosives vest under an Iraqi police uniform when he struck, killing Brig. Gen. Saleh Mohammed Hassan, the director of police for Ninevah province, of which Mosul is the capital, according to the statement.
The Iraqi army was securing the area.
An Iraqi police spokesman said Hassan was attacked after gunmen ambushed the blast site, sparking clashes that lasted for about 15 minutes. The bomber moved toward Hassan’s car as it was preparing to flee the area, said Brig. Gen. Saeed al-Jubouri, a police spokesman.
Hassan was wounded and taken to an Iraqi army hospital, where he was pronounced dead, al-Jubouri said.
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8 police killed during US-led operation in central Afghanistan, officials say
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least eight policemen were killed Thursday during an operation by U.S.-led coalition troops in central Afghanistan, which also left several insurgents dead, officials said.
The officers died in the village of Ghariban in Ghazni province during an operation that included U.S. ground forces and airstrikes, said the deputy head of Ghazni’s provincial council, Habeb-ul Rahman. It was unclear whether Afghan troops also took part in the raid.
Two other villagers, including a woman, were killed in the clash, Rahman said.
It was not immediately clear how the officers and civilians were killed.
The U.S.-led coalition said it had killed “several insurgents” and detained nine others during an operation targeting a “Taliban commander associated with suicide improvised explosive device operations,” in Ghazni province.
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Super Tuesday won’t decide the presidential nominees for either party
WASHINGTON (AP) — Don’t look to crown any presidential nominees on Super Tuesday. The race for delegates is so close in both parties that it is mathematically impossible for any candidate to lock up the nomination on Feb. 5, according to an Associated Press analysis of the states in play that day.
“A lot of people were predicting that this presidential election on both sides was going to be this massive sprint that ended on Feb. 5,” said Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant who is not affiliated with any candidate. Now it’s looking as if the primaries after Super Tuesday — including such big, delegate-rich states as Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania — could grow in importance.
“Maybe some states were better off waiting,” said Backus.
That doesn’t mean Super Tuesday won’t be super after all. Voters in more than 20 states will go to the polls on the biggest day of the primary campaign, and thousands of delegates will be at stake.
But it’s possible Feb. 5 might not even produce clear front-runners.
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Massage therapist who found a lifeless Heath Ledger in apartment called Mary-Kate Olsen first
NEW YORK (AP) — A massage therapist who discovered a lifeless Heath Ledger in his Manhattan apartment made her first call to Mary-Kate Olsen, according to an in-depth timeline police released Wednesday of the moments surrounding the Australian-born actor’s death.
Police said Ledger probably died sometime between 1 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday of what authorities say may be an accidental drug overdose.
Authorities found six types of prescription drugs in Ledger’s apartment, including pills to treat insomnia and anxiety, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. Three of the drugs were prescribed in Europe, where Ledger had been filming recently.
Ledger’s housekeeper, Teresa Solomon, arrived at his apartment with her own key and let herself in. At 1 p.m., she went to his bedroom to change a light bulb, and saw Ledger sleeping and heard him snoring. She left the room without thinking anything was wrong.
At 2:45 p.m., massage therapist Diana Wolozin showed up for her appointment with Ledger, who didn’t answer when she knocked on his door. She then tried to call him on his cell phone, but again got no response. She went into the bedroom, set up her massage table and again tried to wake Ledger.
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Toyota still No. 2 after GM, but competition will only intensify in 2008 in new markets
TOKYO (AP) — General Motors just barely retained its lead over Toyota as the world’s No. 1 automaker last year, but the neck-and-neck competition will only intensify in the coming year as the two rivals vie for sales in China, India and other newer, booming markets.
It was the solid sales growth in such emerging markets that gave General Motors Corp. its slight edge over Toyota Motor Corp. in 2007 global vehicle sales, allowing the U.S. automaker to keep its top spot for the 77th year.
Toyota said Thursday it sold 9.366 million vehicles last year globally, up 6 percent from 2006.
That was about 3,000 vehicles fewer than GM’s tally announced Wednesday — 9,369,524 vehicles sold, up 3 percent from the previous year.
The race between the two rivals highlights the phenomenal growth of Toyota, founded in 1937, which started out by imitating GM, an American icon, as well as Ford Motor Co.
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Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic advance to Australian Open final; Roger Federer makes semifinals
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Maria Sharapova overwhelmed one Serbian player in the semifinals and will face another for the Australian Open championship. Sharapova followed her quarterfinal rout of No. 1-ranked Justine Henin with a 6-3, 6-1 semifinal win over third-seeded Jelena Jankovic on Thursday.
No. 4 Ana Ivanovic rallied to ensure one of the two Serbians advanced from the semifinals, despite losing the first eight games to Daniela Hantuchova.
She recovered the early break in the second set and then, after saving break points in a 10-minute game that went to deuce seven times, got another crucial break in the third.
Hantuchova dumped a routine volley into the net on break point in the ninth game of the deciding set to give Ivanovic, who had scrambled to stay in the point, a chance to serve for the match.
She won it 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2-hours, 10-minutes when Hantuchova put a forehand into the net on match point.
An up-close-and-personal
look at daily life inside Iraq compiled from
posts from Iraqi journalists in McClatchy's
Baghdad Bureau.
