FT. HOOD SUSPECT REQUESTED LEAVE
fort hood, texas The soldier suspected of killing three people and wounding 16 others last week began his eight-minute rampage on the sprawling Texas Army post after an argument related to taking leave, military investigators saidMonday.
The shooting rampage Wednesday ended when Spec. Ivan Lopez killed himself with his .45-caliber pistol after confronting a female military police officer, who Grey said fired once at Lopez but didn’t strike him.
A spokesman for Lopez’s family said he was upset because he was granted only a 24-hour leave to attend his mother’s funeral in November. That leave was later extended to two days.
Senate OKs denying visa to Iranian UN ambassador
washington » The Senate approved a billMonday to bar a former hostage-taker tapped to be Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations from entering the United States.
By voice vote, Republicans and Democrats united behind the legislation sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that reflected congressional animosity toward Tehran and its selection of Hamid Aboutalebi. Iran’s envoy choice was a member of aMuslim student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
Ted Kennedy Jr. to run for office in Connecticut B
new haven, conn. » Ted Kennedy Jr. is planning to run for the state Senate in his first bid for public office, sources saidMonday.
The son of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy ofMassachusetts will announce Tuesday he intends to seek the Democratic nomination for the 12th District, two people said on condition of anonymity. Kennedy said he would announce his decision at a library in Branford. Kennedy is 52-year-old health care lawyer who lives in Branford, a coastal town near NewHaven.
Senate OKs jobless bill; prospects in House cloudy
washington » The Senate voted 5938Monday to resurrect federal jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, and a small band of Republican supporters swiftly appealed to a reluctant Speaker John Boehner to permit electionyear action in the House as well. Despite the appeal, the bill’s prospects are cloudy at best, given widespread opposition among conservative lawmakers and outside groups and Boehner’s unwillingness to allow it to the floor without changes that Republicans say would enhance job creation.
Crushing defeat for Quebec separatists B »
montreal The anti-independence Liberal Party has won a majority in Quebec’s legislative elections, in a crushing defeat for the main separatist party. Official resultsMonday showed the Liberals won or were leading the race in about 75 of the National Assembly’s 125 seats, outstripping the separatist Parti Quebecois.
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois called the snap elections last month in the hopes of securing a majority for her PQ party. But the campaign stirred up speculation that a PQ majority ultimately would lead to another referendum on independence from Canada, an idea that has lacked support in recent years.
India starts voting in world’s largest election B
bauhati, india » Voters in India’s remote northeast cast ballots on the first day of the world’s biggest electionMonday, with the opposition heading into the polls with strong momentum on promises of a surge in economic growth.
With 814 million eligible voters, India will vote in stages in the next five weeks in a staggered approach made necessary by the country’s vast size. Voters will choose representatives for the 543-seat lower house of parliament. Results from all 935,000 polling stations are expected May 16. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its candidate for prime minister are seen as the biggest threats to the nowgoverning Congress party.