Car bomb kills 17

Car bomb kills 17

amman, jordan

A car bomb ripped through Syria’s largest city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing at least 17 people and wounding 40 in one of the main battlegrounds of the country’s civil war, state-run media said.

Sunday’s blast came hours after a Jordanian militant leader linked to al-Qaida warned that his extremist group will launch “deadly attacks” to help the rebels in Syria topple President Bashar Assad.

Congress returns for short session

washington

Fresh off a five-week vacation, lawmakers return to Washington today for a truncated pre-election session in which Congress will do what it often does best: Punt problems to the future.

They face a slew of deadlines and the prospect of a debilitating “fiscal cliff” in January, yet are expected to take a pass on the big issues of taxes and spending cuts. Their focus seems to be on the bare minimum, preventing a government shutdown when the budget year ends Sept. 30.

Boy, 12, takes wheel after dad’s seizure

peabody, mass.

A 12-year-old boy steered his family’s car to safety along Interstate 95 after his father suffered what appeared to be a seizure while driving, then brought his younger sister to safety behind a guardrail while waiting for help, police said.

The boy, who’s from Dracut, took the wheel Saturday, steered it into a southbound breakdown lane in Peabody and applied the brakes, troopers said. He then used his dad’s cellphone to call 911. He told the dispatcher that his father was having a seizure while driving on the highway, state police said.

The boy’s father, who was unconscious, was taken to a clinic and is reported to be in good condition.

Parents plan for kids if strike happens

chicago

With Chicago teachers poised to go on strike for the first time in a quarter century, parents spent Sunday worrying about how much their children’s education might suffer and where their kids will go while they’re at work.

Teachers said they would walk off the job today if no deal was reached with the nation’s third-largest district by midnight Sunday on issues such as pay, job security and evaluations. Parents have been waiting for word of progress as city and union officials send messages that are discouraging one day and encouraging the next.

School officials said they’d open more than 140 schools between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. if there is a strike so kids can eat lunch and breakfast in a district where most of the 400,000 students receive free meals.

Associated Press