Twin explosions kill 5, wound 20 at vegetable market south of Baghdad
 
BAGHDAD (AP) — Back-to-back bombings at a vegetable market south of Baghdad on Thursday afternoon killed at least five people, including a policeman who was searching for explosives, Iraqi security and medical officials said.
 
The blasts in Iskandariyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Baghdad, also wounded at least 20 people, according to Dr. Nahid al-Maamouri of the Iskandariyah Hospital.
 
The first explosion came around 4:45 p.m. during busy afternoon shopping hours. The second bomb hit about five minutes later as people rushed to the attack scene to help, witnesses said.
 
Police said a detector, held by a policeman just inside the small market’s only entrance, failed to find the bombs before they went off. The policeman was also killed in the blast, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media.
 
 
 
Students pose in erotic calendar to celebrate Putin’s 58th birthday
 
MOSCOW (AP) — Vladimir Putin received an unusual birthday gift Thursday from 12 female journalism students, who posed in lacy underwear and used sexual innuendo to create a calendar dedicated to Russia’s macho prime minister.
 
“How about a third time?” asks Miss February, hinting at a third presidential term.
 
“You put out the forest fires, but I’m still burning,” says Miss March, referring to Putin’s piloting of a firefighting plane during the summer’s devastating wildfires.
 
During his decade in power, Putin has been glorified in song and seen his name used to sell a brand of now-popular vodka. Students have formed Putin fan clubs, and activists in Kremlin-connected youth groups have chanted his name at their rallies and staged pranks ridiculing critics.
 
The pinup girls, all students at Moscow State University, apparently risk no rebuke.
 
 
 
 
New York seeks to ban purchase of sugared drinks with food stamps
 
NEW YORK (AP) — Using food stamps to buy sodas, teas, sports drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages would not be allowed in New York City under a new government effort to battle obesity.
 
Spending government money on “foods of little or no nutritional value … contradicts the intent of the program,” officials wrote.
 
 
 
 
Israel to buy 20 American-made stealth fighter jets for self-defense
 
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. and Israeli governments signed an agreement Thursday for Israel’s purchase of a squadron of 20 American-made F-35 stealth fighter jets.
 
The planes are capable of reaching Iran undetected by radar. Israel sees Iran’s calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, its nuclear program and its missiles as threats.
 
The contract allows Israelis to purchase more aircraft in the future.
 
 
 
Former New Orleans housing CFO to serve 46 months in prison
 
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former chief financial officer with the Housing Authority of New Orleans has been sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison.
 
Elias Castellanos pleaded guilty in 2009 to embezzling $900,000 and was fined $75,000 and sentenced to 46 months in prison Thursday.
 
Investigators say Castellanos submitted false time billings, including some under his wife’s maiden name for work she did not perform.
 
 
 
Kershaw meets with opponents, backs Dardenne in runoff election
 
LAFAYETTE (AP) — Singer Sammy Kershaw, third-place finisher in Louisiana’s lieutenant governor’s race, announced Thursday he’s backing Secretary of State Jay Dardenne in the runoff election.
 
Dardenne faces Democratic political newcomer Caroline Fayard in the Nov. 2 election.
 
Both Republicans, Kershaw and Dardenne appeared together at the Lafayette endorsement announcement, held at an oilfield services company. Kershaw, who received 19 percent of the vote in the primary, said he met with both Dardenne and Fayard before making his decision.
 
 
 
71-year-old woman indicted in murder-for-hire case Thursday
 
SHREVEPORT (AP) — A Caddo Parish grand jury on Thursday indicted a 71-year-old woman accused of paying someone $1,000 to kill her husband so she could sell his land.
 
Bobbie Loretta Luttrell faces one count of first-degree murder in the July 25 death of her husband, Ernest Luttrell, 73.
 
Luttrell allegedly asked Tina VanMoerkerque, 44, a family friend living in a mobile home who worked housekeeping and odd jobs, to find a killer, offering $1,000.
 
Luttrell’s daughter said her mother has Alzheimer’s and couldn’t have plotted to kill her husband.
 
 
 
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