UPI NewsTrack TopNews

Kabul car bomb kills 7, wounds dozens

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- A car bombing Saturday near the NATO headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, killed at least seven people and injured more than 100, officials say.

The Los Angeles Times reported the bombing about 30 yards from the heavily fortified NATO site meant insurgents brought an estimated payload of nearly 600 pounds of explosives through multiple security checkpoints.

An unknown number of insurgents participated in the deadly attack, which also was near the U.S. Embassy.

"It was a suicide bombing carried out in a car right in front of" the NATO-led peacekeeping force, the BBC reported Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, as saying at the scene.

The last major attack in Kabul came in February, when eight Taliban militants attacked three government buildings simultaneously, killing 20 people and the eight attackers.

And in July 2008, the BBC reported, a car bomb killed more than 50 Afghans and two diplomats outside the Indian Embassy.

Iranian clerics want rape accuser arrested

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Leading Iranian clerics have called for the arrest of a cleric-politician who says protesters were raped in a Tehran prison, sources said.

In sermons Friday, clerics in Tehran, Qum and Mashad denounced the accusations of Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric and presidential candidate who was defeated in the disputed June 12 election, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Friday sermons usually reflect talking points issued by the office of Iran's Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Times reported.

Also Friday, a group of reformist leaders used opposition Web sites to call for an investigation of Khamenei's qualifications in what appeared to be the strongest public attack yet on the Islamic leader.

On a separate Web site, Karroubi this week said protesters arrested in the wake of the election had seen other protesters raped, beaten to death, and "forced to go naked, crawling on their hands and knees like animals, with prison guards riding on their backs."

Hatch: Health plans mean gov't takeover

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. healthcare reforms supported by President Barack Obama amount to an expensive government takeover, a senior Republican said Saturday.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, delivering the Republican Party's weekly radio address, said the Democratic proposals would end up with Washington "dictating" Americans' healthcare.

"As the federal government's control of our healthcare system continues to increase, private coverage will continue to decrease, till we are left with a Washington-run and dictated healthcare system," Hatch said.

He also blasted comments made this week by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who said the behavior of angry attendees at healthcare town hall meetings who shouted down supporters was "un-American."

"I am disappointed about the attempts to characterize the behavior of Americans expressing their concerns as 'un-American,'" Hatch said. "Although I strongly encourage the use of respectful debate in these town halls, we should not be stifling these discussions."

Firefighting pilot missing after crash

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Police searched Saturday for the pilot of a helicopter that crashed into a river while fighting wildfires in western Canada.

The pilot was filling up with water when the helicopter went down in the North Thompson-Fraser River at about 4:20 p.m. Friday, the Vancouver Sun reported. He was helping fight the Intimpam fire, one of scores of wildfires this season in British Columbia.

A police helicopter that arrived at the scene within minutes saw the wreckage of the helicopter, but the pilot couldn't be found.

Divers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police joined local search and rescue teams. The search was called off about 8:30 p.m. and resumed Saturday morning.

Militants have sought Pakistan nukes

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Islamic extremists bent on getting their hands on nuclear weapons have attacked Pakistani facilities three times in the past two years, an expert says.

Deutsche Welle reported Saturday that Shaun Gregory, who heads the Pakistan Security Research Unit at the University of Bradford in England, said in a recent article for the the anti-terrorism center at the U.S. Military Academy there were two terrorist attacks on Pakistan's nuclear weapons facilities in 2007 and one in 2008.

Taliban and al-Qaida, Gregory concludes, present a "real and present danger" for Pakistan's nuclear weapons, the German broadcaster said.

Deutsche Welle said last month the leader of a terror group in Afghanistan told the Arabic television network al-Jazeera al-Qaida would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons against the United States if it could obtain them.

The Pakistani military denies there's any danger that could happen and says no nuclear weapons were involved in the three incidents.

The U.S. military also says Pakistan is adequately protecting its nuclear weapons.

Still, experts say the threat isn't going away and vigilance is key.

"Probably the smallest problem is the danger of theft of an operational nuclear weapon," said Oliver Meier, international representative of the Arms Control Association. "What is worrying though is that components of nuclear material may be stolen or lost and that could also be used of course for a radiological attack."

Terror groups could work with individuals with access to Pakistan's nuclear secrets, he said.