4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008
》 IRAQ
Suicide bomber kills 50 people
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An Iraqi woman mourns the death of her relative killed in a suicide bomb attack in the town of Albu Mohammed about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Baghdad, Thursday. A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two anti-al-Qaida Sunni tribesmen, killing at least 50 people and wounding dozens, police said.
BY LEE KEATH ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two Sunni tribesmen who joined forces against al-Qaida in Iraq, killing at least 50 people Thursday and reinforcing fears that insurgents are hitting back after American-led crackdowns.
The sudden spike in bloodshed this week adds to the other worries now piling up in Iraq: violent rivalries among Shites and persistent cracks in the Iraqi security forces.
Violence across the country has declined since seven months ago, including dramatic suicide bombings like Thursday's funeral attack. American officials credit the change to the U.S. troop buildup and the rise of Sunni tribal groups known as Awakening Councils that have turned against al-Qaida-linked militants. A truce called last year by anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has also helped.
But the new bloodhed highlights how fragile those gains are.
Thursday's attack happened in the town of Albu Mohammad, about 90 miles north of Baghdad. A suicide bomber dressed in traditional Arab robes passed unsearched by guards into a tent of mourners. The occasion was a funeral for two brothers who belonged to the local Awakening Council and who were killed in an attack a day earlier.
The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body, killing at
least 50 people and wounding dozens more, said police in the nearby city of Kirkuk.
Baghdad on Thursday. Two council members were gunned down in the Sunni district of Azamiyah. Hours later in the same area, five council members and a civilian were killed by a roadside bomb. And the head of the Awakening Council in the southern Baghdad area of Dora was killed by gunmen who sprayed his
"I first heard a thunderous explosion and when I turned my eyes to the tent I saw fire and smoke coming out," said Sheik Omar al-Azawi, an Awakening Council member who arrived at the funeral just before the blast. "Panicked people were jumping and running on all sides."
Violence across the country has declined since seven months ago. But the new bloodshed highlights how fragile those gains are.
Insurgents also struck against Awakening Council members in
car with bullets, also wounding his son, police said.
has been able to reorganize after blows suffered from the U.S. troop surge and the Awakening Councils.
The violence came two days after a string of suicide bombings in four cities of northern and central Iraq killed 60 people attacks that U.S. officials
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Death rates began declining significantly around September 2007 and reached an average low of 20 Iraqis killed per day in January, according to an Associated Press count. But since then, the levels have steadily climbed to an average of 41 reported killed per day last month.
There have been other sporadic bursts of dramatic attacks blamed on al-Qaida or other Sunni insurgents in past several months. It is unknown whether this week's violence signals that al-Qaida in Iraq
blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq.
U. S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said such attacks do not detract from a markedly improved overall situation. "We have said all along that there will be variants in which we will see al-Qaida and other groups seek to reassert themselves," Bergner said Wednesday.
The troubles on the Shiite front could be more dangerous. An offensive launched on March 25 in the southern city of Basa by Iraqi forces against Shite militants — particularly from al-Sadr's Mahdi Army — touched off an uprising by Shiite militias across southern Iraq and in Baghdad's Sadr City.
INTERNATIONAL
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvailangi reacts, during an interview in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday. Tsvailangi said government accusations that he was guilty of treason are "outrightous."
Zimbabwe waits for results
Mugabe retains presidential power while Tsvangirai still claims victory
BY DONNA BRYSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Protests are fizzling at home, and his efforts to rally the world to the cause of democracy in Zimbabwe are being stymied by fellow Africans.
Morgan Tsvangirai — who has been beaten, accused of treason and nearly killed since founding Zimbabwe's main opposition movement in 1999 — wouldn't hazard a guess as to when the crisis over an election he said he won will be resolved.
If he knew who could persuade Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to step down, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, "certainly that person should be contacted immediately."
Tsvangirai was relaxed, even able to joke about reports from his homeland Thursday that Mugabe's regime considers him a traitor. But he is a man under considerable pressure.
Nearly three weeks have passed since the presidential vote. No official results have been released, and the opposition, which said Tsvangirai won, accused Mugabe of withholding the results to stay in power after a campaign that focused on Zimbabwe's shell-shocked economy.
There has been talk of a recount or a runoff. But Mugabe could well simply continue to suppress the results and cling to power.
Human rights groups report increasing violence against Tsvangirai's supporters.
Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights said Tuesday its members had treated more than 150 cases of injuries consistent with assault and torture since the March 29 poll, including a rash of recent ones linked to a crackdown sparked by the opposition's call for a stayaway from work protest.
The stay-away call was little heeded, both because few Zimbabweans could afford to miss even a day of work, and because police and militants loyal to Mugabe cracked down.
Tsvangirai said the stay-away "may have been an exhausted strategy." But he wasn't home to help his aides plot tactics.
He has been traveling outside Zimbabwe for most of the period since the election, and acknowledged his homeland was a dangerous place for him.
"There are rogue elements there who might take the law into their own hands," he said.
The former trade union leader said diplomacy, not fear, was the main reason he was abroad. He would not say when he would return, saying his priority now is mobilizing international pressure on Mugabe.
"We are determined to have democratic change through democratic means," not through violence, Tsvangirai said.
HEALTH
Current flu season called worst in years; vaccine only 44 percent effective
BY MIKE STOBBE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — The current flu season has shaped up to be the worst in four years, partly because the vaccine didn't work well against the viruses that made most people sick, health officials said Thursday.
This season's vaccine was the worst match since 1997-1998, when the vaccine didn't work at all against the circulating virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 2007-2008 season started slowly, peaked in mid-February and
seemed to be declining, although cases are still being reported, CDC officials said.
effective.
Based on adult deaths from flu and pneumonia, this season is the worst since 2003-2004 — another time when the vaccine did not include the exact flu strain responsible for most illnesses.
Each year, health officials — making essentially an educated guess — formulate a vaccine against three viruses they think will be circulating. They guess well most of the time, and the vaccine is often between 70 and 90 percent
But this year, two of the three strains were not good matches and the vaccine was only 44 percent effective, according to a study done in Marshfield, Wis. That seemed to match the experience in other parts of the country.
"We've had a pretty heavy season, both adult and pediatric. And there were a good number of cases more than usual — who had received a vaccination," said Dr. Niranjan Bhat, a children's infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
The CDC compares flu season by looking at adult deaths from the flu or pneumonia in 122 cities. This year, those deaths peaked at 9 percent of all reported deaths in early March, and remained above an epidemic threshold for 13 consecutive weeks. In 2003-2004, they peaked at more than 10 percent of all deaths, and surpassed the epidemic threshold for nine weeks.
"Our season is not quite as high but is lasting a little longer," said Dr. Dan Jernigan, deputy director of the CDC's influenza division.
Type B Florida strain, also absent from this year's vaccine, has also been causing illness. Marshfield data showed that the vaccine was completely ineffective against the Type B virus, and was 58 percent effective against the Brisbane virus.
been due to Type A H3N2 Brisbane strain, which was not in the vaccine. That strain tends to cause more hospitalizations and deaths, contributing to this season's severity, CDC officials said.
Jernigan acknowledged that some people may lose faith in the flu vaccine and skip it next year. But he noted even this year's mismatched vaccine still offered 44 percent protection overall and likely reduced the severity of illness in those who got the flu.
FREE SEMINAR and INFORMATION FAIR presented by City of Lawrence, Human Relations Commission
Seminar for Landlords, Owners and Property Managers
Each year, the flu results in 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths, according to official estimates. The elderly, young children and people with chronic illnesses are considered at greatest risk.
Friday April25,2008 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Holiday Inn/Holidome 200 McDonald Drive
Topics include:
- Landlord/Tenant Issues
- Landlord/Tenant Mediation
- Legislative Updates
FREE LUNCHEON!
way flu seasons are compared. So far this season, 66 children died, including 46 who were not vaccinated. In 2003-2004, 153 children died.
Call 832-6310 to register. This seminar is FREE of charge and open to the public.
Saturday April 26,2008 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Information Fair for Tenants and Prospective Tenants
City of Lawrence
Renters & Homebuyers can meet and talk to housing experts. Visit the booths and gather valuable information.
Lawrence Arts Center 940 New Hampshire
LEGAL www.lawrenceks.org
DOOR PRIZES & GIVEAWAYS! FREE REFRESHMENTS!
Call 832-3310 for more information This event is FREE of charge and open to the public.
The CDC started working with the Marshfield Clinic in central Wisconsin to get a better gauge of vaccine effectiveness while a flu season was in progress. Almost the entire population in the Marshfield area — about 50,000 people — gets health care at clinic offices, which has complete vaccination and electronic medical records.
Legal Department Human Relations Division 785-832-3310
Life is calling How far will you go?
Information Session University of Kansas Friday, April 18 7-8:30 p.m. Kansas Union Big 12 Room
For information contact
For information contact campus representative
Heather Sutter
110 Burge Union
785-864-7679
peacecorps@ku.edu
peacecorps.gov
This year, most of the illness has
NEW YORK — Higher unemployment claims and weak readings from two economic indexes reinforced recession worries Thursday.
The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits rose to 372,000, an increase of 17,000 from the previous week.
ECONOMY More unemployment furthers recession concerns
Separately, the New York-based Conference Board's gauge of future economic activity rose 0.1 percent for March, reversing five months of decline. But the private business group's indicator has shown a 3.3 percent annual rate of decline since March 2007.
That's "the kind of result, that whenever we've seen it in the past, the U.S. economy has been heading into a recession," Michael Gregory, senior economist for BMO Nesbitt Burns, a Toronto investment bank. "The recession signal here is clear and unequivocal."
The Conference Board index is designed to forecast economic activity in the next three to six months based on 10 economic components, including stock prices, building permits and initial claims for unemployment benefits.
Stocks drooped following
a rally Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 30.78, or 0.24 percent, to 12,588.49, in afternoon trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 5.41, or 0.40 percent, to 1,359.30, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 18.80, or 0.80 percent, to 2,331.31.
The Conference Board said another of its indexes, which measures current economic activity, has also deteriorated in recent months, with weakness becoming more widespread among the components of both.
The readings suggest "economic weakness is likely to continue in the near term,"Ken Goldstein, labor economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement accompanying the report.
Associated Press