Female suicide bomber kills 4 police officers

Female suicide bomberkills 4 police officers
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber detonated explosives at a police station today, killing four officers in the first such attack in the Sri Lankan capital since the rebels signed a cease-fire two years ago, police said.
Seven people were wounded and the bomber was killed in the blast, which occurred across the street from the U.S. and British embassies.
Police said they took the woman in for questioning after learning that she was plotting an attack on Douglas Devananda, an agriculture minister and moderate Tamil leader who opposes the rebels.
At the station, officers noticed something "bulging out of her dress" and called the bomb squad, said police spokesman Rienzie Perera, but the woman detonated the explosives wrapped around her body before they arrived.
Four police officers took the full force of the blast and died, Perera said. Seven people, including three civilians, were wounded.
Photos of victims upsetPeterson trial's jurors
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Jurors in the murder trial of Scott Peterson appeared distressed as prosecutors displayed pictures of the remains of his wife, Laci, and the couple's fetus.
Peterson, charged with both deaths, did not look at the large screen where the pictures were displayed. Laci's parents, who have been present throughout the trial, left the courtroom.
Michael Looby testified he and his wife were walking their dog along the shore of San Francisco Bay on April 13, 2003, when he came upon a body in a marshy area.
The body of Laci Peterson washed ashore a day later, not far from where the fetus was found.
Last week, prosecutors focused on witnesses who testified about Peterson's affair with a massage therapist.
Peterson's affair, according to the government, drove him to kill his pregnant wife on or around Dec. 24, 2002. They say he then dumped her body in San Francisco Bay. The defense contends someone else abducted her near their Modesto home as she walked her dog, held her captive before killing her and dumped her body to frame Peterson.
China faces possibilityof new avian flu outbreak
SHANGHAI, China -- China said today that wild birds may have sparked a new outbreak of avian flu on a lakeside farm, while Thailand confirmed fresh outbreaks in two central provinces.
The cases in Anhui province, China's first reported outbreak in nearly four months, involve the same severe bird flu strain that earlier this year ravaged Asia's poultry industry and jumped to people in Vietnam and Thailand, killing 24. About 100 million chickens across the region were slaughtered to halt its spread.
China's Agriculture Ministry said the farm in Anhui was quarantined following confirmation of the flu Tuesday. All poultry within two miles of the affected farm have been slaughtered and birds within three miles vaccinated, the reports said.
"The local government has made necessary measures of slaughter or quarantine to prevent a spread and sent samples to the authorities. It has also isolated the area," the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said Agriculture Ministry authorities were first informed of bird deaths on the farm Saturday.
Meanwhile, Thailand declared two "red zones" around affected farms where authorities are culling thousands of chickens. Lab tests confirmed that the new outbreaks in Ayuthaya and Prathumthani provinces, the government said. Vietnam also reported several small outbreaks last week.
Teen who killed teacherplans to represent himself
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The middle school pupil convicted of shooting his English teacher to death four years ago has fired his lawyer, saying he wants to represent himself.
Nathaniel Brazill, now 17, is serving a 28-year sentence for killing Lake Worth Middle School teacher Barry Grunow. Brazill turned his gun on Grunow after the teacher refused to let him talk with two girls in his classroom.
Attorney Jack Thompson had taken Brazill's case, hoping to help the teen reduce his sentence. Brazill fired him, saying he wanted to serve as his own lawyer, Thompson said.
"He's a tough guy," Thompson said of Brazill. "I wish him well."
Brazill's appeals have been denied, and the Florida Supreme Court refused to review his case. But a trial court judge could reduce his sentence if new information is presented or if it is shown that the teen's former defense attorney Robert Udell did not represent him well.
Udell said he cautioned Brazill against firing Thompson.
Associated Press