Bombings kill 18

Bombings kill 18

baghdad

Bombs struck two Sunni towns at sundown Sunday just as Iraqis were preparing to break their holy day’s fast, killing 18 and wounding more than 50, officials said. Two earlier bomb blasts killed a policeman and wounded dozens of people.

The multiple bomb attacks showed that deadly violence is still common and in some places even worsening in Iraq, seven months after the U.S. pulled its last troops out of the country.

Testing cholesterol levels in children

chicago

Should all U.S. children get tested for high cholesterol? Doctors still are debating that question months after a government- appointed panel recommended widespread screening that would lead to prescribing medicine for some kids.

Fresh criticism was published online today in Pediatrics by researchers at one university who say the guidelines are too aggressive and were influenced by panel members’ financial ties to drugmakers.

Rebels launch effort

beirut

A new rebel group boasting some 1,000 fighters launched an operation Sunday to capture Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, while government troops using helicopter gunships and heavy artillery rolled back opposition gains in the capital Damascus.

A group calling itself the “Brigade of Unification” announced in an online video that it was launching an operation in Aleppo, Syria’s most populated city and a key commercial hub that has remained relatively quiet during the uprising.

Associated Press