Aiken Standard from Aiken, South Carolina • Page 17

Page edited by Adrian Greer Friday, April 25, 2008 J5B National Headlines Lawmaker resigns after computer pom mix-up COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Ohio House Democratic leader says a state lawmaker whose computer displayed an image of a topless woman has resigned. The image was projected after Rep. Matthew Barrett inserted a data memory stick into the computer for a lecture on how a bill becomes a law. The Democrat from Amherst was speaking in October to an American government class of about 20 high school students. Barrett first said he didn't know how the image had become intermingled with his presentation.

A later review by the State Highway Patrol found that the image had been downloaded by one of his children. Democratic leader Joyce Beatty says she demanded Barrett's resignation after he acknowledged not being truthful about the matter. A spokesman for House Democrats declined to elaborate. 2010 Census test ran is scaled back FRESNO, Calif. Census Bureau has scaled back its dress rehearsal for the once-a-decade national head count, raising fears that thousands of soldiers, immigrants and other hard-to-reach people will go uncounted when the population survey is conducted in 2010.

"It's like sending up a rocket for a moon shot and not doing the final test on how to land," warned former Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt, who oversaw the agency during the 2000 count. The dry run is now under way in two states, with more than a half-million households receiving questionnaires from the Census Bureau. But the agency, dropped such routine follow-up practices as sending census takers door-to-door to check whether homes on the bureau's mailing list are vacant or occupied, and dispatching workers to figure out the best way to reach soldiers on military bases. Because the dry run helps shape the way the national head count is ultimately carried out, some politicians and demographers worry that the census may miss members of the military, inmates and the homeless. 5 dead after truck, van collide By JOE MANDAK Associated Press EIGHTY-FOUR, Pa.

A tractor-trailer collided with a van apparently carrying residents from a group home for the mentally disabled Thursday, flipping the vehicle onto its side and crushing it against a building. Five people were killed and seven injured. Witnesses told investigators the van stopped at an intersection, then pulled right in front of the tractor- trailer, Washington County Coroner Tim Warco said. The crash happened about 10 a.m. in Somerset Township, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Crews worked for several hours to remove the five bodies from the van, Warco said. Seven people were taken to hospitals; several were reported in stable condition and Warco said the tractor-trailer driver was treated and AP photo Emergency personnel survey the scene of an accident in Somerset Township, Pa. released. The conditions of others was not available. The van was believed to be carrying residents of a group home in Bentleyville.

A man who answered the phone at the Mental Health Association of Washington County in Bentleyville said they were "going through a crisis situation and can't take this call." Al-Sadr shift to fighting may be bad for Iraq By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press BAGHDAD Muqtada al-Sadr is considering setting aside his political ambitions and restarting a full- scale fight against U.S.-led forces a worrisome shift that may reflect Iranian influence on the young cleric and could open the way for a shadow state protected by his powerful Mahdi Army. A possible breakaway path described to The Associated Press by Shiite lawmakers and politicians would represent the ultimate backlash to the Iraqi government's pressure on al-Sadr to renounce and disband his Shiite militia. By snubbing the give-and-take of politics, al-Sadr would have a freer hand to carve out a kind of parallel state with its own militia and social services along the lines of Hezbollah in Lebanon, a Shiite group founded with Iran's help in the 1980s. It also would carry potentially disastrous security implications as the Pentagon trims its troops strength and Prime Minister Noun al-Maliki finally shows progress on national reconciliation. Al-Sadr "Muqtada has shown a great deal of patience not calling for an all-out war yet with so much pressure on him," said Mohan Abedin, director of research at London's Center for the Study of Terrorism and an expert on Shiite affairs.

"The Mahdi Army is by far the most powerful Iraqi faction. It can cause damage on a massive scale if it goes to war." Al-Sadr's next move is still uncertain, but he clearly holds important cards. The Mahdi'Army is estimated to have about 60,000 fighters with at least 5,000 thought to be highly trained commandos and is emboldened by its strong resistance to an Iraqi-led crackdown launched last month in the southern city of Basra and elsewhere. Al-Sadr's movement also holds sway over the densely populated Shiite parts of Baghdad and across the Shiite south by controlling vital needs such as fuel and running social services such as clinics. A cease-fire declared last summer by al-Sadr has been credited with helping bring a steep drop violence.

But al-Sadr who has been in the Iranian seminary city of Qom for the past year is seriously considering tearing up the truce and disassociating himself from his political bloc in parliament, according to loyalists and Shiite politicians interviewed by the AP over the past two weeks. Then al-Sadr would be free to unleash Mahdi attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, the political insiders said. They include members of the 30- seat Sadrist faction in parliament and members of rival Shiite parties, including two who saw al-Sadr recently in Iran. All requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

"The emphasis is now on weapons and fighting, not politics," said one of the lawmakers in the Sadrist bloc. "(Al-Sadr) now only communicates with the Mahdi Army commanders." Any Mahdi Army offensive could have serious repercussions. Mahdi fighters engaged in fierce battles with U.S. forces in 2004 and then were blamed for waves of roadside bombings that were once the chief killer of American troops. International Headlines AP photo Nepal communist party Maoist chairman Prachanda speaks to journalists after meeting with U.N.

officials and foreign ambassadors in Katmandu, Nepal. Nepal's Maoists win lead role in assembly KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) Nepal's former communist rebels were declared the biggest party in a new governing assembly Thursday. While the Maoists won't have a majority, they are expected to usher in sweeping changes for the poor Himalayan nation. First up: getting rid of the royal dynasty that has ruled Nepal for 239 years. "The first meeting of the ent Assembly will end the monarchy and establish a republic there will be no compromise," the Maoists' leader, Prachanda, told reporters Thursday.

While there is still support for the monarchy, few Nepalis will mourn the exit of King Gyanendra, who seized absolute power in 2005 only, to be forced into restoring democracy a year later by widespread protests. U.S. predicts increase- in Afghan violence KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Insurgent violence in Afghanistan could reach record levels this year as militants increasingly target police and development projects, a top U.S. general said Thursday. Maj.

Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, who commands U.S. forces in the country, said violence is increasing as insurgents pour into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan. Violence "may well reach a higher level than it did in 2007," the bloodiest since the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001, Schloesser said.

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