hBonfires rage in Ireland

hBonfires rage in Ireland
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Two gun attacks in Belfast left one man dead and another critically wounded Monday on the eve of Northern Ireland's tensest day of the year -- the divisive "Twelfth" holiday of mass Protestant marches. Although no group claimed responsibility, police and politicians blamed feuding between two outlawed Protestant groups -- the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force -- for the bloodshed. Both groups run competing criminal rackets, including drug trafficking. Three attackers broke into the home of a 19-year-old man and shot him to death at close range about 1:30 a.m. Earlier, a man in his 20s was shot repeatedly in the chest and arms but survived. Violence frequently flares before July 12, an official holiday in Northern Ireland, when tens of thousands of Protestant members of the Orange Order brotherhood parade across the British territory. Thousands of bonfires were ignited by Protestants early today across Northern Ireland to celebrate the 1690 battle of the Boyne, where King William of Orange defeated King James.
4 terror suspects escape
BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- Four suspected Arab terrorists broke out of a U.S. military detention facility in Afghanistan on Monday, fleeing through barbed wire stockades in the first escape from the compound since the American military took over the former Soviet airbase. Also Monday, rescuers reported finding the body of a U.S. Navy SEAL, the last to be accounted for from a four-man special forces unit that disappeared after a June 28 ambush in the rugged mountains in the east of the country. U.S. and Afghan forces launched a manhunt for the suspects, identified as Arabs from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Libya. U.S. soldiers set up roadblocks, and helicopters clattered low over villages near the heavily guarded base north of the capital, Kabul.
Famous icepick resurfaces
MEXICO CITY -- One of history's most infamous murder weapons, the icepick police believe was used to kill Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, has resurfaced just weeks before the 65th anniversary of his assassination. Tests to authenticate the weapon have been delayed by a dispute between the current owner, who may hope to sell it, and Trotsky's grandson, who wants it for his museum -- evidence of the ongoing struggle between socialist ideals and capitalism. The icepick is in the hands of Ana Alicia Salas, whose father apparently removed it from an evidence room while serving as a secret police commander in the 1940s. She is considering selling the foot-long mountaineer's icepick but hasn't decided on a price. Trotsky's grandson, who keeps the revolutionary flame alive by maintaining Trotsky's home in Mexico City as a museum, wants the icepick for his display. Trotsky helped lead the 1917 Russian Revolution, but split with Josef Stalin and fled to Mexico in 1937, accusing Stalin of betraying the revolution.
14 hurt in Trinidad blast
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- A bomb exploded in a trash bin in downtown Port-of-Spain on Monday, injuring 14 people, police said. The commercial district was evacuated and the area checked for additional bombs, but none was located, Deputy Police Commissioner Glen Roach said.
Execution stay granted
RICHMOND, Va. -- The U.S. Supreme Court granted a last-minute stay of execution Monday for a man convicted of fatally stabbing the manager of a pool hall with a pair of scissors. Robin Lovitt, 41, had been scheduled for execution at 9 p.m. Monday. The stay will remain in place until the full court resumes in October. The court will then either hear Lovitt's appeal or allow Virginia to execute him. Lovitt's attorneys and opponents of capital punishment have argued that the conviction should be reviewed because of questions surrounding the evidence. Initial DNA tests of the bloody scissors could not conclusively link Lovitt to the 1998 slaying of Clayton Dicks, 44, during a pool hall robbery in Arlington.
Fire destorys Utah school
SALT LAKE CITY -- Fire destroyed a junior high school Monday, less than seven weeks before the start of the new school year. No serious injuries were reported, and about 10 adults who had been inside Wasatch Junior High School escaped, authorities said. Associated Press