News Briefs

Iraq truck bombing kills U.N. official, others
A truck bomb exploded in Baghdad Tuesday, killing United Nations human rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and at least 20 other people. The blast occurred around 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot next to the Canal Hotel that was being used as United Nations headquarters, U.S. and U.N. officials said. The FBI reported Wednesday that the bomb was made of 1,000 pounds of old munitions, including one 500-pound bomb. President Bush said Wednesday that the bombing would not deter the U.S. from its activities in Iraq.

Ashcroft kicks off Patriot Act Tour
Attorney General John Ashcroft spoke to prosecutors and police officers in Philadelphia Wednesday on the first stop of a month-long tour to promote the USA Patriot Act. The tour is designed to counter criticism of the legislation, which allows anti-terrorism investigators to wiretap suspects, search property without immediately informing its owners and access business records, among other things.

Ten Commandments removal appealed
Chief Justice Roy Moore asked the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to prevent the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the State Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama. Moore filed a motion with the Supreme Court after being denied twice by a federal appeals panel. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled earlier this year that the monument violates the government’s separation of church and state and ordered it removed.

Suspected American bank robbers Arrested in South Africa
South African police and the FBI arrested two Americans wanted for a series of armed bank robberies in Oregon, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas between 1993 and 1996. Craig Michael Pritchert, 41, and Nova Ester Guthrie, 28, were arrested in Capetown Tuesday after nearly eight years on the run, authorities said. The couple apparently used the money from the robberies for a variety of activities including snowboarding and vacationing in Colorado and Canada.

Unhealthy lifestyles cause heart attacks
The results of two studies released Tuesday show that 90 percent of heart disease sufferers smoke, have diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or have a combination of the four. Philip Greenland of Northwestern University headed the study, which followed nearly 400,000 people for up to 30 years.

Blaster computer virus blasts computers worldwide
A new computer virus called Blaster is wreaking havoc on machines running Windows XP, 2000 and NT operating systems. The virus prevents infected computers from connecting to the Internet, which makes fixing the problem difficult for many users. Any computer connected to the Internet is vulnerable to infection until it is patched to block the Blaster virus.

RIAA won’t hunt small game
The Recording Industry Association of America said it will not sue small violators who illegally pirate music on the Internet, according to a letter released by a Senate subcommittee Monday. However, the group did not define how much illegal distribution it considered enough to warrant a lawsuit, and added that it does not condone any illegal activity, no matter how small.

Ocean sponge ideal for fiber optics
An ocean sponge grows glass fibers that transmit light better than industrial fiber optic cables used in telecommunications, according to a study released Thursday in the science journal Nature. The sponge, nicknamed the Venus flower basket, creates the fibers with natural materials in cold temperatures and adds traces of sodium to them, increasing their ability to conduct light. Scientists hope to be able to duplicate the sponges’ fiber creation methods.

Stowaways stowed far away
Thirteen stowaways hopped a freight train and ended up in Marshfield, Wis. instead of their planned destination of Minneapolis, Minn. Police removed the 10 men and three women from a Union Pacific train Tuesday in the midst of downtown lunchtime traffic. All thirteen were fined $102 for trespassing and later released.

Traffic brakes for cash
An armored truck traveling east on Interstate 80 through Iowa apparently lost control of a load of cash Tuesday, causing cars to stop as the money swirled in the wind. Police stopped three cars east of the incident’s location to investigate whether some drivers had taken any of the cash. The reason for the truck losing the money is as yet unknown.

Parrot smugglers arrested
Bulgarian customs officers arrested four women attempting to smuggle 420 parrots into Turkey last week. Some of the birds were hidden in parts of the women’s van and others in pockets sewn into their clothing. Parrots sell for up to $20 each in Turkey, where people often give them to loved ones. The birds will now go to several zoos in the area, customs officials said.

Missed lotto lands man in hospital
An Italian retiree was so busy organizing his daughter’s wedding that he forgot to hand in a lottery ticket which could have won him 66 million euros. He apparently guessed the correct six-figure number to win the jackpot but forgot to hand his ticket into the lottery office. After realizing what happened, he felt faint and was admitted to a hospital near Rome, according to Italian news agencies. The lottery prize was Europe’s largest ever, and the identity of the actual winning ticket’s purchaser remains unknown.