Mes: agosto 2019

(AP) BAGHDAD – Three bomb blasts shortly before sunset Wednesday killed 10 people north of Baghdad in the latest spasm of violence to grip Iraq. The blasts underscored the volatility of the country eight months after the last U.S. troops pulled out. Insurgents, led by the local branch of al Qaeda, are trying to re-establish themselves in their old strongholds and undermine the government. The first bomb went off Wednesday in Baqouba, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital. Police said two civilians and one police officer were killed, and five people were wounded. Minutes later, authorities said, a car bomb exploded at the entrance of the main market in Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad. A second blast struck as police arrived on the scene. Police said the toll for both bombings in the town was seven killed and 26 wounded. Iraq: Gunmen kill 7 Shiites in targeted attack The bombs exploded shortly before the ceremonial breaking of the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan, when families and friends gather for a sunset meal. Police said the Muqdadiyah market was crowded with shoppers who were buying last-minute supplies for the “iftar” meal. Baqouba and Muqdadiyah are both located in the province of Diyala, a former stronghold of al Qaeda’s Iraqi branch. The province is home to both Sunni and Shiite...

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK – When you heard that Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Levine was appointed America’s new poet laureate, you probably wondered just what a poet laureate does. Well, for starters, he – or she – receives $35,000 and is known officially from October through May as the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for the U.S. The laureate has few official duties and poets before Levine have used the job to pursue a range of personal projects. For example, Billy Collins (2001-2003) started the Poetry 180 program which encourages the reading of verse in high school. The 180 refers to the 180 poems Collins selected for the program. Collins also wrote a poem to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and read it aloud at a special joint session of Congress on Sept 6, 2002. Another previous poet laureate, Robert Hass (1995-1997) went around the country lecturing on poetry and ecological awareness and organized a nationwide “Watershed” conference on nature writing. He also wrote a column about poetry for the Washington Post. What is Levine planning? “I don’t want to overextend myself, but at the same time I would like to use the ‘bully pulpit,’ as they call it, to bring attention to some of my concerns,” the 83-year-old poet told the Associated Press. “There’s a great deal of American poetry that’s hardly known and that should be known....