Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Suicide bomber kills 53 at Shiite rally in Pakistan

by Maaz Khan, AFP

Fri Sep 3, 1:12 pm ET

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) – At least 53 people were killed and 197 wounded on Friday in a suicide bombing targeting a Shiite Muslim rally in the southwestern city of Quetta, police said.

The bomber was among the 450-strong crowd and detonated on reaching the main square in the city, according to police.

The explosion triggered chaotic scenes, with an angry mob starting fires and shooting into the air while others fled or lay on the ground to avoid the gunfire, they added.

2 Greater clarity on climate finance at 46-nation forum

by Richard Ingham, AFP

2 hrs 36 mins ago

GENEVA (AFP) – Forty-six countries gained a clearer view on Friday of what it may take to secure a deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars in climate aid, an issue that threatens hopes for a treaty on global warming.

A two-day informal meeting of the biggest players in the world climate haggle indicated growing support for a “Green Fund” to help dispense up to 100 billion dollars annually by 2020, said several of those attending.

Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said it was possible the fund could be okayed by the 194-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December.

3 Obama promises more stimulus as unemployment edges up

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

13 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama promised a fresh slew of measures to boost the ailing US economy Friday after fresh data showed unemployment was again on the rise.

Obama said he would outline a new package of stimulus measures next week, after a keenly awaited Labor Department report showed the economy lost 54,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.6 percent.

Although the job losses were much less than the 120,000 slump expected by Wall Street economists, hiring was not substantial enough to return millions of crisis-hit Americans to work.

4 BP spill costs hit eight billion as crews unearth clues

by Jo Biddle, AFP

14 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – British oil giant BP revealed Friday it has so far spent eight billion dollars to battle the Gulf of Mexico disaster, as its crews retrieved key evidence from the seabed.

Robotic submarines recorded the delicate operation as engineers raised a failed blowout preventer from the ruptured well and began lifting it to the surface in order to hand it over to the US Justice Department.

The US government is conducting what could be a criminal investigation into the April 20 explosion and susbsequent oil spill and BP is hoping to shift some of the responsibility to its contractors.

5 Hollywood blues dampen sex, action at Venice filmfest

by Gina Doggett, AFP

36 mins ago

VENICE, Italy (AFP) – Steamy sex and blazing action contrasted with the peculiar desolation of the Hollywood lifestyle at the Venice film festival Friday.

French director Antony Cordier’s “Happy Few” provided enough sex for the festival’s entire 11-day run as a wife-swapping foursome asks the question, “Can one love two people at once?”

“The ultimate perversion in the film, the painful moment, is when they feel conjugal desire for the lover,” Cordier told a news conference.

6 British police quiz Pakistan trio in probe

by Julian Guyer, AFP

Fri Sep 3, 1:34 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – British police on Friday questioned the three Pakistani cricketers embroiled in fixing claims, as the sport’s governing body insisted the case was not the tip of a corruption iceberg in the game.

Bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif and Test captain Salman Butt arrived separately for questioning by detectives at a police station near the “home of cricket”, Lord’s in north London.

The International Cricket Council said meanwhile it had acted as soon as it could to charge the trio with “various offences” under its anti-corruption code and to suspend them pending a decision on those charges.

7 Gates meets US troops in Afghan Taliban heartland

by Daphne Benoit, AFP

Fri Sep 3, 8:19 am ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – US Defence Secretary Robert Gates struck a positive note Friday about the war in Afghanistan after a day meeting with US soldiers at the “tip of the spear” in the Taliban’s heartland.

Gates spent the day in southern Kandahar province, one of the hottest spots of the intensifying war against the insurgents which is nearing the end of its ninth year.

“I come away from my visits down here this morning encouraged,” Gates told reporters after spending time on military bases in the province that the Islamists regard as the heartbeat of their fiefdom.

8 Iran Guards stop opposition leader from joining mass rally

by Jay Deshmukh, AFP

Fri Sep 3, 6:23 am ET

TEHRAN (AFP) – Islamist militiamen and elite Revolutionary Guards surrounded the home of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi on Friday to prevent him from joining a government-sponsored rally that last year saw opposition protests, his website said.

At the Quds (Jerusalem) Day Palestinian solidarity march in Tehran last year, supporters of Karroubi and fellow opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi staged demonstrations against hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government.

“As of 8:00 am (0330 GMT) today, Basijis (militiamen) and Sepahi (Guards) gathered in front of Karroubi’s home,” the samahnews.org website said.

9 Bomb kills 54 in Pakistan, Taliban threaten U.S.

By Saud Mehsud, Reuters

35 mins ago

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 54 people in the second major attack this week, piling pressure on a U.S.-backed government overwhelmed by a flood crisis.

Pakistan’s Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast and said it would launch attacks in the United States and Europe “very soon,” repeating a threat to strike Western targets in response to drone attacks that have targeted its leadership.

The Quetta attack on a Shi’ite rally expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people came as the United States said the devastating floods were likely to hold up army offensives against Taliban insurgents.

10 Corrected: An outgunned FDA tries to get tough with drug ads

By Susan Heavey and Lisa Richwine, Reuters

Fri Sep 3, 1:09 pm ET

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) – It wasn’t what you would call a casual get-together.

In February 2009, a popular New York blogger attended a brunch with fellow “frazzled moms.” They took in tips from a style expert and listened to a nurse extol the virtues of Mirena, a birth control device sold by Bayer Healthcare.

The nurse was on Bayer’s payroll. In a series of events organized with the help of a women’s website, Mom Central, the pharmaceutical company gathered a captive audience of young mothers. It provided the nurse with a script and had the women fill out a survey before they left.

11 U.S. offshore oil fire may delay lift of drill ban

By Ayesha Rascoe, Reuters

2 hrs 24 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama Administration is likely to stay focused on toughening regulatory oversight of the U.S. offshore oil industry and may push back lifting a ban on deepwater drilling after the latest accident in the Gulf of Mexico, analysts said on Thursday.

The fire on a Mariner Energy oil and gas platform in shallow waters of the U.S. Gulf on Thursday was a major setback for companies hoping for an early end to the government’s drilling moratorium and raised more questions about the safety of offshore drilling.

“This explosion will make it less likely that the moratorium on offshore drilling will be lifted,” said Rick Muller, senior analyst for Energy Security Analysis Inc in Boston.

12 No sign of oil after Gulf platform fire: Coast Guard

By Kathy Finn, Reuters

Thu Sep 2, 11:18 pm ET

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – An oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy burst into flames in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, but the crew of 13 escaped and there were no signs of an oil spill, the Coast Guard said.

The accident brought unwelcome attention to the offshore drilling industry as it is trying to roll back a six-month deepwater drilling moratorium imposed in the wake of the BP Plc Macondo well disaster, which killed 11 workers and poured 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf.

As of late Thursday, there were no signs of a spill from the Mariner platform.

13 Companies add 67K workers, but jobless rate rises

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

2 hrs 35 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Private employers hired more workers over the past three months than first thought, a glimmer of hope for the weak economy ahead of the Labor Day weekend. But the unemployment rate rose because not enough jobs were created to absorb the growing number of people looking for work.

Companies added a net total of 67,000 new jobs last month and both July and June’s private-sector job figures were upwardly revised, the Labor Department said Friday.

Stocks surged after the report’s release. The Dow Jones industrial average rose more than 100 points in afternoon trading and broader indexes were all up.

14 Pakistan Taliban say their bomber kills 43 Shiites

By ABDUL SATTAR and ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press Writers

2 hrs 37 mins ago

QUETTA, Pakistan – A suicide bombing claimed by the Pakistani Taliban killed at least 43 Shiite Muslims at a procession in southwest Pakistan on Friday. The assault sharply drove up the toll of sectarian assaults in a country battered by massive flooding.

To the northwest in Pakistan’s restive tribal regions, two suspected U.S. missile strikes killed at least seven people in an area controlled by one of the main groups battling Americans in neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Two other militant bombings left at least two people dead and several wounded on a day convulsed by the violence that threatens the stability of Pakistan’s weak civilian government – an essential but problematic Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants.

15 Clams befouling Tahoe invade Adirondack lake in NY

By MARY ESCH, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 40 mins ago

BOLTON LANDING, N.Y. – A thumbnail-sized clam blamed for clouding the azure bays of Lake Tahoe high in the Sierra Nevada has now turned up in a mountain-ringed Adirondack lake renowned for its limpid, spring-fed waters.

The invasive Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea, is known as the “golden clam” in the aquarium trade and the “good luck clam” in its native southeast Asia. But in Lake George, scientists call it an unwelcome invader that could cause ecological and economic harm.

An intensive search launched after a few tiny clams were found at a sandy beach in August turned up no additional infestations, suggesting the invasion was discovered before it had a chance to spread across the 32-mile-long lake, a popular vacation spot.

16 Gates sees progress in tour of Afghan war zone

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer

Fri Sep 3, 11:07 am ET

COMBAT OUTPOST SENJERAY, Afghanistan – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he saw and heard evidence that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is taking hold in critical Kandahar province.

Gates toured U.S. bases and met with troops in the thick of the fighting in Kandahar city and the Taliban haven of Zhari district, west of the city.

The birthplace of the Taliban, Kandahar is Afghanistan’s second-largest city and a linchpin of the retailored battle plan President Barack Obama announced last year. Even as the U.S. nears the full complement of the troop surge ordered last year by Obama, the region remains a battleground, still far from under full control of the U.S.-backed central government in Kabul.

17 Latest Gulf oil rig problem differs from BP spill

By ALAN SAYRE, Associated Press Writer

Fri Sep 3, 10:44 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – Unlike the blast that led to the massive BP spill, the latest oil platform fire in the Gulf of Mexico killed no one and sent no crude gushing into the water.

The Mariner Energy-owned platform that erupted in flames Thursday was just 200 miles west of the spill site, but everything from the structures to the operations to the safety devices were different.

Yet when word of the latest mishap spread, residents along the coast could think only of the three-month spill that began after the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers.

18 Indonesian volcano spews new burst of ash

By BINSAR BAKKARA, Associated Press Writer

Fri Sep 3, 10:15 am ET

TANAH KARO, Indonesia – An Indonesian volcano that was quiet for four centuries shot a new, powerful burst of hot ash more than 10,000 feet (three kilometers) in the air Friday, sending frightened residents fleeing to safety for the second time this week.

The force of the eruption – the strongest so far – could be felt five miles (eight kilometers) away.

“This was a big one,” said 37-year-old Anto Sembiring, still shaken after abandoning his coffee shop in the middle of the danger zone. “We all ran as fast as we could. … Everyone was panicking.”

19 Former egg farm workers say complaints ignored

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press Writer

Fri Sep 3, 8:34 am ET

DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Agriculture Department employees worked full-time at two Iowa egg farms at the center of a salmonella outbreak and massive recall, but two former workers said they ignored complaints about conditions at one site.

The USDA employees worked next to areas where roughly 7.7 million caged hens laid eggs at the two operations, but agency spokesman Caleb Weaver said their main duties are “grading” the eggs and they aren’t primarily responsible for looking for health problems.

In response to the outbreak that has led to a recall of about 550 million eggs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration examined the Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms and noted in a report this week that inspectors found rodents, wild birds, seeping manure and maggots in the operations there.

20 Mobs attack home of Iranian opposition leader

By BRIAN MURPHY and NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writers

1 hr 20 mins ago

TEHRAN, Iran – Pro-government crowds swarmed outside the battered home of a key Iranian opposition leader Friday after militiamen attacked with firebombs and beat a bodyguard unconscious in a brazen message of intimidation and pinpoint pressure on dissent.

The assault on Mahdi Karroubi’s five-story residence late Thursday – just hours before major state-backed rallies – displayed the growing tactics of trying to isolate and harass top opposition figures after relentless crackdowns appear to have driven protesters from the streets.

The 72-year-old Karroubi, a cleric and former parliament speaker, has been the most public protest leader in recent months – and has paid the price with repeated damage to his car and tense confrontations with backers of the Islamic state. But the latest backlash, described by a pro-reform website, was by far the most aggressive.

21 Democrats spend early to knock out GOP challengers

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

Fri Sep 3, 8:34 am ET

WASHINGTON – Republican Jesse Kelly was still basking in the glow of his victory in an Arizona congressional primary when the Democratic congresswoman he’s trying to unseat released a scathing TV ad branding him “a risk” who would gamble away people’s retirement savings.

It took Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ campaign just hours to start hitting Kelly on the airwaves for his stance on Social Security. That’s because Giffords, like dozens of other Democrats around the country facing tough re-election bids in a political environment that favors the GOP, was trying to score a knockout punch against her rival before he had a chance to introduce himself to voters.

It’s a time-tested tactic in political campaigns, particularly when an incumbent is facing a lesser-known challenger, or when a seat is up for grabs after a lawmaker’s retirement or departure. And with Democrats at risk of losing their grip on Congress in the November elections, going negative early and often is regarded as a necessity.

22 What now for Gulf? Fire complicates drill debate

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer

35 mins ago

WASHINGTON – What now for the Gulf? News of another oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico, so soon after the BP oil spill, has set off a wave of anxiety along the Gulf Coast and prompted calls for the government to extend its six-month ban on deepwater drilling.

Just when it seemed the Obama administration might be ready to lift the unpopular ban, the fire raises new questions about the dangers of offshore drilling, leaving the industry wondering when it can get back to work.

“Anything that casts any kind of shadow on the industry right now certainly complicates lifting the moratorium,” said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Texas. “It makes it difficult to continue to say that (the BP spill) is an aberration.”

23 ‘Birth tourism’ a tiny portion of immigrant babies

By BOB CHRISTIE and PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writers

1 hr 16 mins ago

SAN JUAN, Texas – When Ruth Garcia’s twins are born in two months, they’ll have all the rights of U.S. citizens. They and their six brothers and sisters will be able to vote, apply for federal student loans and even run for president.

Garcia is an illegal immigrant who crossed into the country about 14 years ago, before her children were born, and the citizenship granted to her children and millions others like them is at the center of a divisive national debate.

Republicans are pushing for congressional hearings to consider changing the nation’s 14th Amendment to deny such children the automatic citizenship the Constitution guarantees. They say women like Garcia are taking advantage of a constitutional amendment meant to guarantee the rights of freed slaves, and paint a picture of pregnant women rushing across the border to give birth. A recent Pew Hispanic Center study shows 8 percent of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 had at least one illegal parent.

24 Broke youth anti-crime groups want federal cash

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer

Fri Sep 3, 11:10 am ET

LOS ANGELES – A $1.6 billion congressional bailout of sorts could help financially flailing groups that fight to keep young people out of trouble, yet lawmakers are reluctant to take up the expensive proposal amid a sour economy and other, more pressing issues.

The Youth Promise Act would dole out money to organizations like Homeboy Industries, a gang rehabilitation center founded in 2001 under the motto “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.” The group’s founder Father Greg Boyle recently had to lay off more than 300 of his 427 workers, most of them former gang members, when expected revenues plummeted.

His organization isn’t the only one suffering. The recession has hit other nonprofits across the country hard and left some wondering how they will survive.

25 Feds sue Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe

By AMANDA LEE MYERS and PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer

Thu Sep 2, 7:49 pm ET

PHOENIX – The Justice Department sued the nation’s self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff” on Thursday, calling Joe Arpaio’s defiance of an investigation into his office’s alleged discrimination against Hispanics “unprecedented.”

It’s the first time in decades a lawman has refused to cooperate in one of the agency’s probes, the department said.

The Arizona sheriff had been given until Aug. 17 to hand over documents the federal government first asked for 15 months ago, when it started investigating alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and jail policies that discriminate against people with limited English skills.

26 Arizona governor stumbles during debate

By PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer

Thu Sep 2, 7:03 pm ET

PHOENIX – It will go down as one of the most painful openings to a political debate in recent memory.

Gov. Jan Brewer stumbled and stammered through her opening statement during a televised debate Wednesday night, suffering through an embarrassing, cringe-eliciting pause that lasted more than 10 seconds.

With her hands clasped in front of her, she looked at the camera, then down, possibly at notes, and back up at the camera. She smiled, let out a loud exhale, then resumed her statement with a pronouncement of her record as governor.

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