House OKs 3 more months of benefits for all jobless

House OKs 3 more months of benefits for all jobless

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved an extra three months of jobless benefits for all unemployed Americans, knowing the plan’s chances are slight in the Senate and almost nonexistent at the White House.

After failing to get a veto-proof two-thirds margin by three votes Wednesday, Democrats got an exact two-thirds margin Thursday with a 274-137 vote — the amount needed to overcome a threatened presidential veto.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week increased by 25,000 from the week before.

Violence in Gaza Strip

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip — An explosion flattened a house in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing seven people. After blaming Israel and unleashing a barrage of rockets and mortar shells, Hamas suggested the blast was accidental, not an Israeli attack.

By then Israel had carried out an airstrike aimed at a Gaza rocket squad, killing a Palestinian. Two other Israeli military operations in Gaza killed five more militants.

The violence threatened to scuttle Egyptian cease-fire efforts as they approached the finish line. A key Israeli envoy, Amos Gilad, was in Egypt trying to wrap up a deal, but there was no announcement of results.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the military was not operating in the area of the house at the time of the blast.

Free Father’s Day Viagra

ESCOBEDO, Mexico — Men in the northern Mexican town of Escobedo are likely to have a happy Father’s Day, thanks to a mayor who is handing out free Viagra and condoms.

Mayor Margarita Martinez says the handouts are part of a campaign aimed at raising awareness about male health problems.

Martinez say a strong family “requires a healthy man, and a healthy sex life is part of general health.”

The campaign includes a team of doctors and nurses who give free health exams and determine which men could be given the pills, which are donated by pharmacies. Thursday’s handout was arranged to coincide with Father’s Day.

U.S. blasts Zimbabwe

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration says Zimbabwe’s government is stooping to new lows to try to keep its grip on power ahead of a hotly contested presidential run-off election and is calling for immediate action by the U.N. Security Council.

The administration accused authorities in the African nation of “unconscionable behavior” by stealing American food aid intended for hungry schoolchildren and giving it to government supporters.

It also condemned police for twice on Thursday detaining President Robert Mugabe’s challenger, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, and for jailing the No. 2 in his Movement for Democratic Change party, Tendai Biti, to face treason charges. It was a dramatic escalation of a government crackdown ahead of the June 27 election.

Date palm tree grows from 2,000-year-old seed

WASHINGTON — Just over three years old and about 4-feet tall, Methuselah is growing well.

“It’s lovely,” Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm, whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2,000 years ago.

The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers.

Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn’t sprout, indicate they were about 2,000 years old — the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown.

Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in today’s edition of the journal Science.

One thing they don’t know yet is whether it’s a boy or girl. Date palms differ by sex, but experts can’t tell the difference until the tree is six or seven years old, Sallon said.

Associated Press