Italy to take part in Libyan bombing to protect civilians
 
ROME (AP) — Italy will take part in strategic bombing raids in NATO’s Libya mission, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Monday, following a phone call with United States President Barack Obama.
 
Berlusconi’s office said in a statement that Italy had decided to beef up its military action in Libya to better contribute to protecting civilians.
 
Italy had previously said it would not participate in airstrikes against Libyan targets, given its 40-year colonial rule over the country, but in Monday’s statement it said it had decided to increase its “operational flexibility.”
 
480 inmates escape from southern Afghan prison by tunnel
 
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — During the long Afghan winter, Taliban insurgents were apparently busy underground.
 
The militants say they spent more than five months building a 1,050-foot tunnel to the main prison in southern Afghanistan, bypassing government checkpoints, watch towers and concrete barriers topped with razor wire.
 
The diggers finally poked through Sunday and spent 4 1/2 hours ferrying away more than 480 inmates without a shot being fired, according to the Taliban and Afghan officials. Most of the prisoners were Taliban militants.
Accounts of the extraordinary prison break, carried out in the dead of night, suggest collusion with prison guards, officials or both.
 
Virginia judge denies Muslim inmate’s lawsuit over beard
 
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia’s prison system did not violate a Muslim inmate’s religious rights when it refused to allow him to grow a 1/8-inch beard, which he believes is required by his religion, a federal judge has ruled.
 
William Couch, a 50-year-old Sunni Muslim, is a medium-security prisoner serving multiple life sentences for rape and other convictions. He challenged the Virginia Department of Corrections’ grooming policy, which bans long hair and beards.
 
With Barbour out, GOP ponders as 2012 field takes shape
 
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Republican Gov. Haley Barbour bowed out of presidential contention Monday with a surprise announcement just as the 2012 campaign was getting under way in earnest, 18 months before Election Day. The Mississippi governor said he lacked the necessary “absolute fire in the belly” to run.
 
Barbour’s declaration, unexpected because he had been laying the groundwork for a campaign for months, thins a Republican cluster of no less than a dozen potential candidates to take on Democratic President Barack Obama.
 
Jindal fundraising report to show $9.5M on hand for Oct. election
 
(AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal has boosted his campaign’s bottom line, reporting $9.5 million in his campaign account six months before the fall election.
 
The Republican governor’s campaign says Jindal’s latest finance report will show $1.7 million raised since January.
 
Jindal’s taken in $13.8 million so far for this election cycle. The new report was due to be filed Monday with the Louisiana Ethics Administration Program. The election is Oct. 22.
 
Audit inspects spending under Southern Lab School ex-director
 
(AP) — A state audit raises questions about more than $60,000 in expenses by a former director of the public school run by Southern University in Baton Rouge.
 
The Legislative audit says Derek Morgan made disbursements from a Southern University Laboratory School account totaling more than $60,000 that may be personal in nature.
 
In his response to the audit, Morgan said he reimbursed the school by cashier’s check to cover the expenses listed as questionable plus $469 more.