Taliban car bomb blasts US convoy

Taliban car bomb blasts US convoy

PESHAWAR, Pakistan

A Taliban car bomb struck an armored vehicle taking American government employees to the U.S. consulate in northwest Pakistan on Friday in a strike the militants said was to avenge the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

A Pakistani passer-by was killed, and two Americans suffered minor injuries in the attack in the city of Peshawar, officials said. At least 10 other Pakistanis were wounded. The strike was the first on Westerners since the May 2 U.S. commando raid on bin Laden’s hideout in an army town around three hours from Peshawar.

The Pakistani Taliban, an al-Qaida-allied group behind scores of attacks in recent years, claimed responsibility.

NATO planes bomb Libyan navy vessels

TRIPOLI, Libya

NATO warplanes bombed Libyan naval vessels in three ports Friday, leaving ships partially sunken and charred and showering docks with debris in the military alliance’s broadest attack on Moammar Gadhafi’s navy.

NATO said the overnight bombing runs were meant to protect the nearby rebel-held port of Misrata, the only major city in the western half of Libya that is under the control of the fighters trying to end Gadhafi’s nearly 40-year rule. One of the attacks struck the main port of Tripoli, and reporters could see flames and smoke pouring up into the night sky from stricken vessels.

27 killed in Syria

BEIRUT

Thousands of Syrians flooded the streets across the country Friday, defying an unrelenting government crackdown that has failed to crush a two-month uprising against the country’s authoritarian regime. Human-rights activists said security forces opened fire, killing at least 27 people, including a 10-year-old boy.

Friday’s turnout — and the now-familiar, deadly response by the regime — was the latest sign the conflict could be moving toward a dangerous stalemate with neither side able to tip the scales. President Bashar Assad’s forces have unleashed tanks and snipers and made thousands of arrests to break the revolt, but protesters continue to face down security forces.

Protesters insisted their movement was growing and they would not be bowed.

Officials OK ban on homosexuality talk

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

A bill passed Friday by the Tennessee Senate would forbid public-school teachers and students in kindergarten through eighth grade from discussing the fact that some people are gay.

Opponents deride the measure as the “don’t say gay bill.” They say it’s unfair to the children of gay parents and could lead to more bullying. Supporters say it is intended to give teachers clear guidance for dealing with younger children on a potentially explosive topic.

The bill likely isn’t to be taken up by the House before lawmakers adjourn this spring, but the sponsor there has said he would push it forward in 2012 when the General Assembly comes back for the second year of the session.

Strauss-Kahn released from jail

NEW YORK

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was released from jail Friday and will be held under house arrest near ground zero after the luxury apartment where he had arranged to stay fell through because the neighbors objected to the media frenzy.

Prosecutors said he will be temporarily housed in a building on a small street in lower Manhattan within the Police Department’s “Ring of Steel” — a network of private and police cameras near where the World Trade Center stood.

Associated Press