Today’s edition of quick hits:
* A deadly and important raid in Iraq: “Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of al Qaeda, broke out of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail as comrades launched a military-style assault to free them, authorities said on Monday.”
* What precipitated the jail break: “Suicide bombers drove cars packed with explosives to the gates of the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday night and blasted their way into the compound, while gunmen attacked guards with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.”
* China: “A series of earthquakes in Gansu Province in northwestern China set off landslides and building collapses in an impoverished mountainous region Monday, killing at least 75 people, injuring more than 600 and prompting President Xi Jinping to order ‘all-out rescue efforts.’”
* A big story out of Guantanamo: “Seventy-one detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay will get parole-board-style hearings at the Navy base in Cuba, the Pentagon said Sunday, though it did not say when the panels will meet, whether the media can watch and which of the long-held inmates will go first.”
* Austerity doesn’t even help in its intended goal: “The debt burden in the 17 European Union countries that use the euro hit an all-time high at the end of the first quarter of the year, according to official figures released on Monday. Government debt as a proportion of the area’s GDP hit a record 92.2 percent, up from 90.6 percent in the previous quarter and 88.2 percent a year ago.”
* Amusement-park oversight in the United States is lacking and as we were reminded recently, it matters a great deal.
* San Diego: “Mayor Bob Filner’s former director of communications filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that he sexually harassed her, put her frequently in a headlock and said ‘crude and disgusting’ things about sex.” * When Limbaugh is reduced to shameless trolling: “If any race of people should not have guilt about slavery, it’s Caucasians.” * And the Washington Post had an “exclusive” report over the weekend on the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Update Committee, which relates directly to Medicare. What’s the problem? The Post’s “exclusive” story was scooped by the Washington Monthly two weeks ago — a point the Post neglected to mention. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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