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Dorm collapses in central Turkey; 16 dead

ANKARA, Turkey, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Turkish officials indicated a gas canister explosion caused a girls' school dormitory to collapse Friday, killing 16 students and injuring 27 others.

About 40 girls between the ages of 8 and 16 were staying in the dorm in Balcilar, near Taskent in the Konya province in central Turkey, Hurriyet reported

"We think the collapse was caused by a gas canister explosion in the building, given the burns on the injured," Konya health service official Galip Sef was quoted as saying by state-run Anatolian news agency.

The three-story building belonged to a religious foundation and was used as a dorm for students studying the Koran, but not affiliated with the Turkish Department of Religious Affairs, State Minister Sait Yazicioglu told the ANKA News Agency.

A number of emergency teams are assisting in the rescue effort, news agencies reported.

"We are hearing voices. I believe those inside the rubble will be saved," village Mayor Mehmet Demirgul told NTV television.

U.S. wants Pakistani news leaks plugged

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. officials, said to be critical of major news leaks, are reportedly demanding an upgrading of some Pakistani intelligence operations.

CBS News says the U.S. military has been routinely withholding word from Pakistani authorities on border attacks targeting al-Qaida and Taliban suspects.

The reason given is a fear the information could be leaked to militants, a high-level European defense official in Islamabad said.

The Bush administration is said to demand a comprehensive revamping of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency before resuming full intelligence cooperation, the CBS report said.

In the most recent example, U.S. officials reportedly withheld for hours the death in an American missile strike in Pakistan's Waziristan border region of Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, a leading al-Qaida chemical and biological weapons expert. The possibility of news leaks was given as the reason, CBS News said.

Poll: Majority say U.S. on wrong track

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The vast majority of U.S. citizens aren't wearing rose-colored glasses when they consider how things are going in the country, a CNN Poll indicates.

Seventy-six percent of those asked indicate the United States is on the wrong track, the CNN-Opinion Research Corp. results indicate, the lowest number since 1980.

"Only three events -- Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis and the economic downturn of 1992 -- have driven below 30 percent the number who think things are going well," CNN's polling director Keating Holland said. Polling about the mood of the country has been conducted since 1974.

The poll also indicated low public opinion on U.S. President George Bush and Congress. While 30 percent of the respondents said they approve of Bush's handling of his job, 69 percent disapprove.

Regarding Congress, 22 percent approve of how Congress is handling its job and 77 percent disapprove. Thirty-six percent of those polled said Democrats are handling their job well and 63 percent said they aren't.

The poll surveyed 1,041 adults by telephone July Sunday through Tuesday. The sampling margin of error was 3 percentage points.

ACLU wants less security at Democratic meet

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge in Denver promises a ruling soon in a trial seeking easier security provisions at the Democratic National Convention.

The trial ended Thursday with repeated questions from U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger about how the rules hamper free speech, as charged by groups behind the lawsuit, The New York Times reported.

The judge also wanted to know what the court might do to rectify the situation with the convention only a few weeks away.

The lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of protest groups, claims security concerns for the three-day convention beginning Aug. 25 are exaggerated, the Times said.

The ACLU's attorney, Steven Zansberg, said previous court rulings had established that public protest required both the ability for free speech and to be seen by the intended recipients, in this case party delegates and the news media.

RCMP won't confirm victim was beheaded

BRANDON, Manitoba, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Canadian police were offering little information about death of a man who was stabbed and reportedly beheaded aboard a bus in Manitoba.

While police haven't confirmed the identity of the victim pending notification of his family, friends have identified him a 22-year-old Winnipeg man, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday.

The apparent victim's father told CBC News he was trying to get police confirmation that his son, who contacted him from Brandon, Manitoba, was indeed the victim.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police wouldn't confirm reports of the beheading, saying only a stabbing occurred Wednesday on an eastbound Greyhound bus traveling on the Trans-Canada Highway near Portage la Prairie, CBC reported. Witnesses told media outlets that the victim was decapitated.

The driver stopped along the highway, evacuated the other passengers and, with help from a truck driver who stopped, locked the suspected killer in the bus. Passengers said that the driver disabled the bus so it wouldn't move. Police surrounded the bus and arrested a 40-year-old man.