Bomb, shootings in Pakistan
Police station, academy, government building hit
LAHORE, Pakistan — Several attacks across Pakistan left at least 13 people dead Thursday, officials said.
Police said gunmen attacked a police academy on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore.
The academy attack occurred Thursday as another team of gunmen was firing shots inside a federal law enforcement building in the city, killing seven. Senior official Sajjad Bhutta said Thursday the attack lasted about 1 1?2 hours and was over by 11 a.m.
Senior police official Chaudhry Shafiq says the latest attack is at the Manawan Police Academy. No casualty figures were immediately available.
That academy was attacked by a group of gunmen earlier this year, leading to a eight-hour standoff that killed 12 people.
Also in Pakistan, police say a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a police station in the northwest, killing six people.
Police official Habib Khan says police and civilians were among the dead Thursday in Kohat district, an area close to the militant-riddled tribal regions. Some 20 people were wounded.
Pakistan has experienced a wave of attacks in recent days as it prepares to launch an offensive in the militant stronghold of South Waziristan along the Afghan border. Streams of civilians fled the area Wednesday ahead of an expected ground offensive.
Bombing runs over suspected militant hide-outs have sharply increased in recent days after a string of bloody attacks on military and civilian targets killed scores of people across Pakistan. Government officials said the wave of terror was forcing them to take the fight to the insurgents’ heartland.
Abducted 18 years ago, now ‘happy to be back’
SAN FRANCISCO — Jaycee Dugard, now 29, tells People magazine she’s “so happy to be back with my family” after being reunited Aug. 27. People published the first photos of Dugard since she was freed from 18 years in captivity, in an issue that goes on sale Friday. Dugard is living with her mother, Terry Probyn, 50, and two daughters — ages 15 and 11 — fathered by her suspected kidnapper, Phillip Garrido. A family spokeswoman told NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday that Dugard decided to release the photos to People as a way to “share her joy with the world.”
WORLD
U.N. says 1 billion hungry, number likely to increase
UNITED NATIONS — A record 1 billion people worldwide are hungry, and a new report says the number will increase if governments do not spend more on agriculture. According to the U.N. food agency, which issued the report, 30 countries now require emergency aid, including 20 in Africa.
The trend continues despite a goal set by world leaders nine years ago to reduce the number of hungry people in half by 2015.
Spiraling food prices have added to hardships, especially in the world’s most desperate countries where the poor could barely afford a single daily meal to begin with.
North sorry for 6 deaths
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea offered a rare apology Wednesday for unleashing dam water, causing deadly floods downstream, and promised to alert Seoul to such measures in the future, an official said.
The release of dam water into the Imjin River last month without notice triggered floods that swept away six South Koreans who were camping and fishing. Seoul demanded an apology, but Pyongyang said at the time only that it “urgently” had to release the water because the dam’s level was too high and that it would warn Seoul of similar releases in the future. The North also offered condolences to the bereaved South Korean families, an official said.
NATION
Obama urges $250 for Social Security recipients
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to approve $250 payments to more than 50million seniors to make up for no increase in Social Security next year.
The Social Security Administration is scheduled to announce Thursday that there will be no cost-of-living increase in 2010. By law, increases are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year.
It would mark the first year without an increase in payments since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975.
Obama’s proposal is similar to several bills in Congress. The $250 payments would also go to those receiving veterans benefits, disability benefits, railroad retirees and retired public employees who do not receive Social Security. The White House put the cost at $13 billion.
Coat hoax provokes folks
COLUMBUS, Ohio– A woman being driven around in a rented limo pulled up at a coat store and announced she had won the lottery and would pay for everyone’s purchases, police said, but she ended up causing a riot when customers realized it was a hoax. Angry customers threw merchandise around and looted, leaving the store looking as though a hurricane had passed through it, police said.
Linda Brown was arrested Tuesday after an hours-long shopping spree that began when she hired a stretch Hummer limousine to drop her off at a Burlington Coat Factory store, police said. Brown walked to a cash register and announced she had won the lottery and would pay for each person’s merchandise up to $500, police said.
U.S. warning for P&G
WASHINGTON — Federal drug regulators warned Procter & Gamble on Wednesday for adding vitamin C to its Vicks cold formulas, a combination not allowed by federal regulations.
The Food and Drug Administration said products like Vicks NyQuil and DayQuil are not permitted to contain the vitamin.
According to the agency, a panel of experts found “no study which demonstrated that vitamin C is unequivocally effective for the prevention or treatment of the common cold.”
P&G advertising for Vicks says the vitamin “can help blunt” the effects of a cold. The company said it believes its marketing meets federal regulations.
NEWS SPOTLIGHT
Putin takes the reins on talking with Iran
Russian Premier Vladimir Putin, in China on Wednesday during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Moscow visit to discuss Iran’s nuclear program, said mentioning sanctions could ruin negotiations. Putin added he wasn’t contradicting remarks by President Dmitry Medvedev, who said sanctions can sometimes be unavoidable.
