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:
New Iraqi flag officially raised
Fire rips through London’s Camden Market
Two CBS journalists missing in Iraq
Danish police arrest suspects in plot to kill cartoonist who drew Prophet Muhammad
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police said Tuesday they have arrested several people suspected of plotting to kill one of the 12 cartoonists behind the Prophet Muhammad drawings that sparked an uproar in the Muslim world two years ago.
The arrests were made in pre-dawn raids in Aarhus, western Denmark, “to prevent a terror-related murder,” the police intelligence agency said. It did not say how many people were arrested nor did it mention which cartoonist was targeted.
However, according to Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the drawings on Sept. 30, 2005, the suspects were planning to kill its cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
“There were very concrete murder plans against Kurt Westergaard,” said Carsten Juste, the paper’s editor-in-chief.
The cartoons were later reprinted by a range of Western publications, and they sparked deadly protests in parts of the Muslim world.
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Assassination attempts prompt East Timor to declare state of emergency
DILI, East Timor (AP) — East Timor declared a state of emergency Tuesday after rebel attacks on the country’s top leaders left the president in “extremely serious” condition with gunshot wounds.
The assassination attempts Monday against President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao — East Timor’s independence heroes — thrust the desperately poor country into a fresh crisis amid fears of more unrest and political turmoil.
The first of a planned contingent of 120 Australian troops landed in the capital of Dili to strengthen the nation’s foreign military peacekeeping mission, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. Earlier, about 30 Australian police officers arrived to boost a U.N. force already in the country.
Surgeons operated on Ramos-Horta for three hours overnight to remove bullet fragments and repair his chest wounds, Dr. Len Notaros, the general manager of the Royal Darwin Hospital, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday.
“His condition remains extremely serious but by the same token, stable,” Notaros said. “The next few days will be the telling point. I believe he is extremely lucky to be alive.”
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Even some with chronic disease can live to 100, thanks to aggressive treatment
CHICAGO (AP) — Living to 100 is easier than you might think. Surprising new research suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent shot at reaching the century mark.
“It has been generally assumed that living to 100 years of age was limited to those who had not developed chronic illness,” said Dr. William Hall of the University of Rochester.
Hall has a theory for how these people could live to that age. In an editorial in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine, where the study was published, he writes that it might be thanks to doctors who aggressively treat these older folks’ health problems, rather than taking an “ageist” approach that assumes they wouldn’t benefit.
For the study, Boston University researchers did phone interviews and health assessments of more than 500 women and 200 men who had reached 100. They found that roughly two-thirds of them had avoided significant age-related ailments.
But the rest, dubbed “survivors,” had developed an age-related disease before reaching 85, including high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. Yet many functioned remarkably well — nearly as well as their disease-free peers.
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BlackBerry service outage across North America frustrates users once again
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — BlackBerry outages are rare, but when they do hit, like one did Monday that wiped out service across United States and Canada, subscribers who have become addicted to the smart phones are quick to unleash their fury.
“I’m mad — it’s enough already,” said a frustrated Stuart Gold, who said he gets 1,000 e-mails a day as director of field marketing for Web analytics company Omniture Inc. and can’t afford the downtime.
Gold, who worked most of Monday on a laptop while traveling, plans to ask his company to buy him a backup smart phone from a rival like Palm Inc., which makes the Treo, in case BlackBerry service goes on the fritz again.
“I don’t know what happened, I don’t care what happened. They need to save their excuses for someone who cares,” Gold said.
It was not immediately clear late Monday what caused the outage — the second widespread disruption in less than a year. Some users reported being able to access their service normally.
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China targets Web sites, Internet cafes in crackdown on overly violent online games
BEIJING (AP) — Seeking to ferret out online games considered overly violent or unhealthy, China has targeted illegal Web sites, computer markets and Internet cafes as part of a campaign to rein in juvenile crime.
The crackdown, christened “Operation For Tomorrow,” is also aimed at Web sites offering unregistered playing platforms or services for gamers that can be downloaded, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday.
The plan will “use the law to attack, investigate and prosecute … to cleanse the environment in which young people are raised and prevent and reduce juvenile crime and illegal activity,” the report said.
China strictly monitors the Internet for anti-government speech and uncensored news reports, but the report made no mention of such content.
Xinhua said the plan especially targets school dropouts, runaways, children of inmates, and children left behind by parents who have migrated for work.
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Court documents show Britney Spears’ father sought to fire her manager for sending her car
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears’ father sought to fire her business manager because he circumvented court orders by providing the pop star with a car after she was released from a psychiatric ward, according to court documents released Monday.
Manager Howard Grossman also violated court orders by arranging meetings for her when she was released from the hospital Wednesday against her parents’ wishes, said papers filed by attorneys for James Spears, her temporary conservator.
The 26-year-old pop star was seen cruising around Los Angeles later that day in a Mercedes-Benz with a swarm of paparazzi on her tail.
“The temporary co-conservators have lost all confidence in their ability to work with Mr. Grossman,” because of his conduct, attorneys for James Spears wrote in papers seeking to fire the manager. The papers were sealed until after Grossman was served.
Court Commissioner Reva Goetz gave Spears’ temporary conservators the right to fire Grossman after a closed-door hearing Thursday in which they aired the allegations in the documents.
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British campaigners call for ban on ‘mosquito’ devices used to drive children away from shops
LONDON (AP) — England’s commissioner for children and a civil liberties group joined in on a campaign Tuesday to ban high-frequency devices intended to drive misbehaving children away from shops and other areas.
The so-called “Mosquito” device emits high-frequency noise which is audible — and annoying — to young ears, but generally not heard by people over 20.
“This device is a quick fix that does not tackle the root cause of the problem and it is indiscriminate,” English Children’s Commissioner Al Aynsley-Green said.
The campaigners claim that about 3,500 of the devices, made by a Welsh company, are in use.
Aynsley-Green said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio that the devices do not tackle the real problem, which is that children have no place to gather other than on the streets.
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Clemens, McNamee become focus of Wednesday’s hearing after Pettitte, two others dropped
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now this much is undeniable: Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee will be the focus of Wednesday’s congressional hearing about the Mitchell Report. “I guess it’s showtime, isn’t it?” said Clemens’ lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin.
Clemens, the accused, and McNamee, his accuser, will be the main witnesses at the public hearing after the New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte and two others were dropped Monday night.
Former Clemens teammate Chuck Knoblauch and convicted steroids distributor Kirk Radomski also were taken off the list of those testifying. One new witness was added Monday: a lawyer who worked with former Senate majority leader George Mitchell to produce December’s report on drugs in baseball.
But everyone surely will be focusing on Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, and McNamee, his former personal trainer. McNamee said in the Mitchell Report that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Clemens’ denials of those allegations drew the attention of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Clemens — who ranks eighth in major league history with 354 wins — was to resume his face-to-face lobbying efforts of committee members Tuesday, after the panel’s planned hearing entitled, “Myths and Facts about Human Growth Hormone, B12, and Other Substances.”
An up-close-and-personal
look at daily life inside Iraq compiled from
posts from Iraqi journalists in McClatchy's
Baghdad Bureau.
