Oil pipeline sabotage drops sharply in Iraq

Oil pipeline sabotage drops sharply in Iraq

BAGHDAD — A sharp drop in attacks on pipelines has enabled Iraq to increase oil exports from northern oil fields and profit from the rise in world energy prices, the country’s oil minister said Friday.

Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said pipeline attacks fell from an average of 30 a month in 2007 to only four last month. Most of the attacks had been in the north, where Sunni insurgents were active.

Al-Shahristani told Al-Sharqiya television that the reduction in attacks has enabled Iraq to export more oil from the northern oil fields around Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

Federal court issues stay in S.C. execution

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A man scheduled to be executed in South Carolina on Friday was issued a stay just minutes before he was to die in the electric chair, triggering a flurry of legal moves by the state as it sought to carry out the death sentence.

James Earl Reed had been scheduled to die at 6 p.m. Friday. A federal judge in Columbia issued the stay at 5:40 p.m. after a defense attorney’s last-minute request for the execution to be halted.

Prisons spokesman Josh Gelinas said state lawyers filed a motion with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to vacate the stay. They also filed the motion with the U.S. Supreme Court in case they were successful at the lower level and challenged again.

Bush asserts privilege in dispute over EPA

WASHINGTON — President Bush asserted executive privilege Friday to withhold documents from a congressional investigation into whether he pressured the Environmental Protection Agency to weaken decisions on smog and greenhouse gases.

White House officials notified a House committee of the rare assertion about 15 minutes before the committee was to vote on holding the head of the EPA and a White House budget official in contempt of Congress for not providing the documents.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., then canceled the vote while expressing skepticism over the privilege claim.

Television station denies fired newscaster’s claims

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia television station has denied claims that it maliciously damaged the reputation of a former newscaster.

Alycia Lane is suing KYW-TV. She says it deliberately got her personal life into the news to get free publicity.

The station said Friday that the allegations aren’t true and that it will defend the case vigorously in court.

Lane was fired this year after being arrested in New York City following a late-night scuffle with plainclothes police.

The lawsuit says the station told Lane to interview TV psychologist Phil McGraw and suggested she talk about her past relationships. She also alleges that managers discriminated against female employees.

Fire threatens homes in northern California

SAN FRANCISCO — A small but fast-moving fire erupted Friday along the northern California coast, threatening homes, forcing hundreds of residents to flee and backing up traffic for miles on a scenic highway.

There was no immediate estimate of how many homes were threatened in the area, where dead grass and other vegetation were burning. The fire had burned 500 acres, less than a square mile, and sent thick black smoke hundreds of feet into the air.

Evacuations were mandatory. Chris Hirsch, a spokeswoman for Santa Cruz County, said the 2,000 evacuees were being taken to a school.

“There are homes threatened, but we’re not exactly sure how many right now,” Hirsch said.

Israelis and Palestinians welcome 2nd day of truce

JERUSALEM — Israelis and Palestinians skeptically welcomed a second peaceful day of a cease-fire Friday, soaking up the sun at beaches and markets while warily predicting that their newfound quiet would be brief.

The Egyptian-mediated truce in Gaza went into effect Thursday, halting daily Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israeli towns and communities and Israeli counter raids and airstrikes against Hamas militants in Gaza.

The six-month deal is meant to end attacks that have killed more than 400 Palestinians and seven Israelis since the Islamic Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip a year ago and pave the way toward wider-reaching agreements.

Associated Press