IOWA
Palin speech Saturday to Tea Party in doubtReports Wednesday indicated that Sarah Palin had either canceled or was at least reconsidering plans to speak Saturday at the Tea Party of America's "Restoring America" rally in Indianola. Her participation was announced last month by the group, which said Palin "embodies the spirit of public service that our founders believed was essential to the survival of our liberties and our republic itself." One problem may have been the possible inclusion in the program of Christine O'Donnell, a former GOP candidate for the Senate in Delaware, reports said.
CALIFORNIA
Dad: 'Horseplay' led to boy going overboardA man accused of throwing his 7-year-old son overboard during a sightseeing cruise around California's Newport Harbor said he and the boy were just "horseplaying" and talked about jumping in the water together. Sloane Briles said: "I discussed it with him. We'd jump in together and just thought it would be funny." But sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said Briles, 35, who was on the tour with his girlfriend and two sons, threatened to toss the boy into the water if he didn't stop crying. Staff said Briles told the boy he needed to toughen up, then threw him into the water 5 feet below, according to Charlie Maas, who oversees the tour company.
FLORIDA
Law against adultery, cohabitation targetedState Rep. Ritch Workman, a Republican from Melbourne, is on a mission to repeal statutes penalizing adultery and cohabitation, among other laws he finds outdated. Cohabitation of unmarried people is currently a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine or up to 60 days in jail. The same penalty applies to cheating husbands and wives. The laws have been on the books since the late 1800s but are rarely enforced. No similar repeal bill has been offered in the state Senate.
PAKISTAN
Explosion kills 10 near Quetta mosqueAt least 10 people were killed in Quetta, in southwestern Pakistan, when an explosion struck a crowd in a parking lot near a Shiite mosque, police officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what was believed to be a suicide car bombing, but sectarian attacks are frequent in the city, the capital of Baluchistan Province. Soon after the blast, Shiite protesters staged a rally at the site.
COLOMBIA:
Defense minister quits as violence surgesDefense Minister Rodrigo Rivera abruptly resigned amid a resurgence of violence by rebels and criminal gangs that has reversed some of the security gains made over the last decade. Particularly worrisome have been recent attacks on electrical towers and oil pipelines and kidnappings of oil company personnel. In a letter to President Juan Manuel Santos, Rivera said it was time to "put an end to this chapter of my life and explore other opportunities."
BRITAIN
WikiLeaks blames Guardian for breachIn an editorial posted on the Internet, WikiLeaks said that its massive archive of unredacted U.S. State Department cables had been exposed in a security breach that it blamed on its one-time partner, the Guardian newspaper. It accused investigative reporter David Leigh of divulging the password needed to decrypt the files in a book he published with a colleague earlier this year. The action, it said, could lead to the release of the group's entire cable collection. WikiLeaks said it was that expectation that prompted its release of tens of thousands of cables in recent days. Leigh called the claims "time-wasting nonsense."
AUSTRALIA
High court rules out refugee exchange dealAustralia's High Court ruled out the government's plans to ship asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, to Malaysia, saying the program would violate Australian laws and its international commitments. The government said it had hoped to set an example by relocating as many as 800 migrants arriving by boat over the next four years, saying that adding obstacles to their quest for legal status as refugees would discourage human trafficking. But the court, ruling 6-1, focused on Malaysia being unable to offer guarantees for their safety and well-being as required .
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