Crude bombs explode outside Colorado homes

Crude bombs explodeoutside Colorado homes
DENVER -- At least three crude bombs exploded and two others were disarmed Friday at the homes of people who work for an FAA contractor in Grand Junction, prompting evacuation of the air traffic control tower at the city airport, officials said. No injuries were reported, and there were no delays at the airport. The bombs were placed at homes of people who work for Serco Group Plc., which operates Grand Junction's air traffic control tower, said Steve Christmas, the company's vice president for aviation operations. Police asked residents to help them find a former employee they described as a "person of interest." Denver controllers handled air traffic for Grand Junction for about an hour until controllers were able to return to the tower there, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said. A security sweep was being conducted at Walker Field Airport, said Carrie Harmon, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration. The bombs had "no known link to aviation," Harmon said, and the sweep was conducted "out of an abundance of caution."
Police: Teen fatally beatenat Milwaukee bus stop
MILWAUKEE -- A 15-year-old boy died after being beaten as he waited for a bus near his school, police said. Authorities on Friday were seeking four or five males they believed were involved. The victim, identified as Raheim Patrick, was a seventh-grader at Malcolm X Academy, according to officials with Milwaukee Public Schools. Officers were investigating whether he had an earlier altercation with an assailant, police said. District spokesman Phil Harris said that the boy was released early from school because of a doctor's appointment, and that he was waiting at a bus stop nearby about 1:50 p.m. Thursday when he was attacked. A vehicle pulled up across the street, and a male got out, walked up to Patrick and slapped him, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said Friday. Then the two scuffled. Several other males, all ages 17 to 19, got out of the vehicle and beat Patrick with their fists, police said. He died at the scene, Schwartz said.
Police: Father concealedbodies of young girls
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A man concealed the bodies of his two young daughters in a plastic container in the back seat of his car before killing himself, authorities said Friday. Richard Howard, 32, apparently shot himself Thursday after a Tennessee Valley Authority police officer approached him as he sat in his car at the Bull Run fossil plant near Oak Ridge. The officer checked Howard's license tag and found he was wanted on rape charges. When the officer returned, he found him slumped over the steering wheel. A handwritten suicide note found in Howard's car helped officers later discover the girls' bodies in a storage box covered with blankets. Authorities said Howard indicated in the note that he had killed the girls, though other details were not released. "The note that he left is somewhat self-explanatory as to why he committed these crimes," said Bob Denney, an agent for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Explosion rocks chemistryschool; professor killed
NANCY, France -- A large explosion rocked a university's chemistry department in eastern France on Friday, killing a professor who was blown through the ceiling, authorities said. The explosion on the ground floor of the Superior National School of Chemistry in Mulhouse, part of the University of Haute Alsace, was apparently a lab accident. It blew out windows and spewed debris dozens of yards onto a lawn outside. Witnesses said they saw plumes of black smoke rising from the building. The 40-year-old professor was propelled through the ceiling of the laboratory, which researches high-risk chemical procedures, and found dead on the floor above, according to Mulhouse City Hall. A female student was hospitalized in intensive care; 10 other people injured by broken glass were also being treated, state officials in the Haut-Rhin region said.
Palestinian president: Deal can be reached
JERUSALEM -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for negotiations with Israel and the United States and predicted that such talks could produce a peace agreement within a year, according to an interview published in the Israeli Haaretz daily Friday. Abbas said that despite the pending formation of a Palestinian government led by Hamas, which calls for the destruction of Israel, there is still a strong chance for a peace deal. Abbas said peace talks would be conducted by the Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella for Palestinian factions that does not include Hamas. "We are in a historic period in which we must decide whether we will move toward peace and a better future for our children. I can promise you that you have a partner for this peace."
Associated Press