Officials identify bomber in assassination attempt

Officials identify bomberin assassination attempt
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Officials have identified the body of one of three suicide attackers who detonated bombs in a devastating attack that barely missed President Pervez Musharraf's convoy and killed 14 people, the interior minister said today.
The attack Thursday -- the second attempt on Musharraf's life in 11 days -- wounded 46, including several police officers in the president's motorcade.
Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat declined to release the bomber's name, citing security reasons. Earlier, the top government spokesman said evidence from the scene of Thursday's attack suggested the bombers were not Pakistani.
Musharraf, 60, was unhurt in the attack that happened just a few hundred yards from the site of the previous bombing Dec. 14 in Rawalpindi, a bustling city near the capital, Islamabad. However, it marked a serious security lapse coming little more than a week before seven South Asian leaders were to hold a summit meeting in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali said today that the Jan. 4-6 summit would go ahead as planned. Officials from Nepal and Sri Lanka confirmed today their leaders still planned to attend.
Mother sues city overaccident at playground
STAMFORD, Conn. -- A 2-year-old model and actor who cut his head at a playground is seeking unspecified lost wages and other compensation from the city.
Konrad Mader of Greenwich was running toward a treehouse at a playground Nov. 4 when he crashed into a railing, according to a claim filed last week by his mother and reported today by The Advocate of Stamford. The blond toddler received several stitches.
Deena Mader, the boy's mother, did not specify how much she is seeking on behalf of her son.
In a letter to officials, she demanded compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering and a "lost wage amount due to his inability to aud ition or take modeling or commercial jobs while his head heals."
Mader blamed the boy's injury on a green railing, which she said blends in with the landscaping. Mader said the railing should be painted a brighter color.
"This accident was preventable had the railings and safety measures been correct at this park," Mader wrote in her claim.
Tom Cassone, the city's director of legal affairs, said his office is investigating the claim.
Joe Falzone, a facilities manager in charge of maintaining city parks, said he is not aware of defects in the playground, and there are no plans to make changes.
Salmonella declines
ATLANTA -- Outbreaks and deaths from one of the worst strains of salmonella to hit the United States in recent decades are on the decline, according to a new federal health study.
The rise of salmonella enteritidis in the 1980s was one of the most serious food-borne epidemics in recent U.S. history. The bacteria strain rapidly spread from the Northeast to the rest of the country, and by the early 1990s it had reached Hawaii and other continents.
"This was a real big epidemic that emerged," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, chief of the food-borne and diarrheal diseases branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "It also emerged in Europe, Japan and many other countries all at the same time."
But since the early 1990s, the case rate has been cut by half, according to the study, which will be published in the January issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a CDC journal.
In 1995, infections from the strain reached a high of 3.9 per 100,000 people, but that dropped to 1.98 per 100,000 in 1999.
That's still higher than the rate of 0.55 per 100,000 recorded in 1976 prior to the 1980s outbreaks, said the study, available on the CDC Web site.
Christmas tree fire
LITITZ, Pa. -- A couple and its 7-year-old daughter died when a dried-out Christmas tree was apparently ignited by its lights and set fire to their home early Christmas morning, authorities said.
The fire broke out about 12:55 a.m. Thursday in the first-floor living room of a twin house in Warwick Township, authorities said.
R. Scott Schoenberger, 37, his wife, Rebecca Lynn, 37, and their daughter, Amanda Lynn, 7, were killed.
All were on the upper floor of the rented duplex and died of smoke inhalation, Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Barry Walp said.
Shortly before 1 a.m., a woman driving by saw smoke billowing from the house and pounded on the door and windows before going next door to alert a family of five living in the adjoining unit, Oettel said. All five escaped without injury.
Firefighters put out the flames in about 90 minutes. The blaze was ruled accidental.
Associated Press