Nation and world briefs Aug. 18

| New Mexican wire services

8/17/2008 - 8/18/08

U.S., allies contemplating action against Russia

CRAWFORD, Texas — The United States on Sunday accused Russia of stalling its military pullback in Georgia, but the Bush administration is not rushing to repudiate Moscow for its actions.

The White House is struggling to figure out the best way to penalize Russia. It doesn't want to deeply damage existing cooperation on many fronts or discourage Moscow from further integrating itself into global economic and political institutions. At the same time, U.S. officials say Russia can't be allowed to get away with invading its neighbor.

Fighting broke out after Georgia launched a massive barrage Aug. 7 to try to take control of the separatist province of South Ossetia, which is heavily influenced by Russia. The Russian army quickly overwhelmed Georgia's forces, then drove deep into the country, bombed Georgian ports and military installations and tied up an east-west highway through the nation.

"There's no doubt there will be further consequences," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who briefed President Bush on the fast-changing crisis over the weekend at his Texas ranch.

She returned to Washington on Sunday and is flying to Brussels, Belgium, todayto talk with NATO allies about what message the West should send to Russia.

Bomber kills U.S.-allied Sunni leader in Iraq

BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber dressed in a woman's robe detonated explosives Sunday in a heavily guarded Sunni area of Baghdad, killing the deputy leader of the neighborhood's U.S.-backed security volunteers who had turned against al-Qaida, Iraqi officials said.

Six bodyguards of Farooq al-Obeidi, deputy leader of the "awakening council" in Baghdad's Azamiyah district, also died in the blast.

The explosion occurred as they were seated on chairs near a checkpoint near the Abu Hanifa mosque in the former insurgent stronghold, police and Iraqi army officials said.

The assailant, wearing a black abaya robe, walked up to al-Obeidi's party and detonated the explosives, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to talk to media.

Texas officials want sect kids back in custody

SAN ANGELO, Texas — More than two months after being forced to return children from a polygamist sect to their parents, Texas child welfare authorities want eight of the youngsters put back in foster care.

Individual hearings for the four mothers of the children, ranging in age from 5 to 17, are set to begin today.

Child Protective Services has asked Texas District Judge Barbara Walther to return the children to foster care because their mothers allegedly have refused to limit their contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.

NPR's 'cancer world' blogger Leroy Sievers dies

Leroy Sievers, a broadcast journalist who candidly and poignantly commented on the disease that would take his life in "My Cancer," a popular National Public Radio blog, has died. He was 53.

Sievers, who was a former executive producer of ABC's Nightline, died Friday at his home in Maryland, NPR announced.

In 2001, Sievers was treated successfully for colon cancer, but four years later he was diagnosed with brain and lung cancer.

He began his public conversation about the disease by saying, "Death and I are hardly strangers," in a commentary that aired on NPR's Morning Edition in early 2006. It was a reference to his quarter-century as a journalist during which he covered more than a dozen wars for CBS and ABC news.

His radio commentaries evolved into a regular series about his life that he called "cancer world." The project grew to include a daily blog and a weekly podcast.

Septuplets' mother hopes to hold them soon

CAIRO, Egypt — A day after giving birth to septuplets, a 27-year-old Egyptian woman said Sunday she's only seen her babies on television and hopes to hold them and name them soon.

Ghazala Khamis was still hospitalized after giving birth a day earlier to four boys and three girls. She said she is "very anxious to see them" and to breast-feed at least some of them.

"I saw them on TV. They are very cute," she told The Associated Press from her hospital bed in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria.

Her husband and other relatives are brainstorming names, said Khamis, who took fertility drugs to conceive in an effort to produce a son. She is already the mother of three girls, ages 7 to 11.

Israel approves release of jailed Palestinians

JERUSALEM — Israel's Cabinet on Sunday approved the release of some 200 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Abbas he would free some of the 9,000 Palestinians held by Israel to help energize peace talks between the two sides.

The prisoner issue is an emotional one for Palestinians, many of whom know somebody behind bars or have been imprisoned themselves. Palestinians see Israel's justice system as unfair and have elevated prisoners to hero status.

Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, has repeatedly called for a large release to boost his public standing.

A statement issued after the meeting said the release was intended "to demonstrate that the release of prisoners can be achieved through talks and not through violence and the kidnapping of soldiers."

Study: Men end up happier than women

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The University of Southern California says in a new study that "women start adult life happier than men, but end up less happy" in later years — a change largely based on shifting feelings about family life and money.

Early on, says the study, "women are more likely than men to be in unions, and this makes for greater fulfillment of both family life and material" goals. But it doesn't stay that way; as they age, "women are less likely to be in unions" and their sense of happiness declines.

Women tend to experience this turnabout in their late 40s, when men are achieving more of their financial goals, says the study by USC economist Richard Easterlin and University of Cambridge sociologist Anke Plagnol, who earned her doctorate at USC last year.

Their conclusions are based on an analysis of two major national opinion surveys that collectively involved about 21,000 men and 25,000 women. The findings are open to lots of interpretation because thousands of the respondents were not married.