WORLD DIGEST || Court rules in favor of blogger

Court rules in favor of blogger

GRANTS PASS, Ore.

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that bloggers and the public have the same First Amendment protections as journalists when sued for defamation: If the issue is of public concern, plaintiffs have to prove negligence to win damages.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a new trial in a defamation lawsuit brought by an Oregon bankruptcy trustee against a Montana blogger who wrote online that the court-appointed trustee criminally mishandled a bankruptcy case.

The appeals court ruled that the trustee was not a public figure, which could have invoked an even higher standard of showing the writer acted with malice, but the issue was of public concern, so the negligence standard applied.

Gregg Leslie of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press said the ruling affirms what many have long argued: Standards set by a 1974 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Gertz v. Robert Welch Inc., apply to everyone, not just journalists.

Taliban attack at restaurant kills 16

KABUL, Afghanistan

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Kabul restaurant filled with foreigners and affluent Afghans, while two gunmen snuck in through the back door and opened fire Friday in a brazen dinnertime attack that killed 16 people, officials said. The fatalities included four U.N. personnel.

The Taliban claimed responsibility within an hour of the attack against La Taverna du Liban, part of a stepped-up campaign of violence against foreign and government interests to send a message that the militants are not going anywhere as the U.S.-led coalition winds down its combat mission at the end of the year.

Michelle Obama turns 50, shows off AARP card

WASHINGTON

Michelle Obama turned 50 on Friday and promptly showed off her AARP card.

“Excited to join Barack in the 50+ club today ... check out my @AARP card!” the first lady told her more than 600,000 Twitter followers in a post that included a photo of her smiling and holding up the red-and-white membership card that bears her name.

President Barack Obama turned 50 in 2011.

Other than the Twitter pic, the first lady spent her big day out of sight, with no public appearances after back-to-back events at the White House earlier this week.

Clashes in Iraq leave at least 5 dead

BAGHDAD

A suicide bomber attacked a gathering of an anti-Al-Qaida militia as security forces and extremists fought in Iraq’s contested Anbar province, violence that killed at least five people Friday, officials said.

Iraqi forces and allied Sunni tribesmen have been fighting for weeks to recapture key territories overrun by al-Qaida militants in the country’s Sunni-dominated Anbar province, including its two main cities, Fallujah and parts of the provincial capital, Ramadi.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, al-Qaida’s Iraqi branch, seized the areas after security forces pulled out to appease angry Sunnis after the arrest of a Sunni lawmaker and the dismantling of a Sunni sit-in protesting the Shiite-led government.

Associated Press