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Iraq bombings continue: Eight people died yesterday and about 30 were injured in two car bombings in eastern Baghdad. The attacks are part of a continuing series of bombings that have taken the lives of 566 Iraqis since U.S. troops pulled back from Iraqi cities June 30.
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The attacks are almost certainly the work of irreconcilable Sunni militants as they are aimed at Shiite targets, especially mosques. Tuesday's attacks hit a mosque and a cafe.
Monday 18 people died in Baghdad in several bombings. Two huge truck bombs devastated a Shiite village near Mosul in northern Iraq, killing 28. Five mosques in poor Shiite areas of Baghdad were bombed July 31 during Friday prayers in a coordinated attack.
So far Shiites are relying on the Iraqi security forces to respond to the bombings. In the past, Shiite militia groups launched retaliatory attacks on Sunni targets in response to bombings.
A spokesman for Iraq's interior ministry said, "These attacks have clear al-Qaida fingerprints all over them," the BBC reported. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he expects the attacks to continue leading up to next January's parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, Kuwait announced its security forces have broken up a terrorist network, arresting six people who were planning to attack a U.S. military base.
Clinton's Nigeria message:
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua in Abuja today on the fifth stop of her seven-country Africa tour.
She is expected to push hard for greater efforts against corruption in sub-Saharan Africa's most populous country. Nigeria enjoys huge oil wealth but little of it reaches down to the mass of ordinary Nigerians because of graft.
Nigeria recently lost its position as Africa's largest oil producer to Angola. Nigerian oil production has been dropping because of insurgent attacks in the oil-producing Niger Delta. The insurgents want to see oil revenues benefiting the Delta region.
The United States imports about 8 percent of its oil from Nigeria, nearly as much as from Saudi Arabia. Nigerian oil is important for the United States as it tries to reduce its reliance on oil from the volatile Middle East. Consequently the United States has a strong national interest in a stable and prosperous Nigeria.
Clinton has urged countries to develop democracy and do more for human rights. In Congo she addressed the plight of women, tens of thousands of whom have been raped in recent conflicts. In Angola she pushed for promised elections to be held quickly.
Bad loans loom:
Investor George Soros says he believes the recession may be turning around but a new congressional report is saying don't be so sure.
The congressional oversight panel for the Troubled Assets Relief Program warns there are still billions of dollars of toxic assets on the books of banks in the United States. The report says if unemployment rises further or the commercial real estate market collapses, more banks will fail.
Most of the bad loans banks held in October are still there today, Elizabeth Warren, chair of the panel told PBS. If the loans do not pay off or cannot be sold, they could bring banks down, especially smaller ones.
The toxic assets also make banks more reluctant to offer new credit as they tend to hold on to new capital as a hedge against losses on those assets.
Arias catches swine flu:
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias became the most prominent person and certainly the first head of state to contract the H1N1, or swine flu, virus.
The attack appears not to be serious. The Nobel Peace prize laureate, who suffers from asthma, is reported resting and telecommuting. He had been mediating in the Honduran crisis after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ejected from the country in a military coup.
Twenty people have died from swine flu so far in Costa Rica.
Coordinating efforts to counter swine flu was a big part of the agenda at the recent meeting of the leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada in Guadalajara, Mexico. One of President Obama's aides had contracted swine flu in April on an earlier presidential visit to Mexico.
