Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

A waddling we will go home Two new adolescent Magellanic penguins waddle to their new home on Penguin Island Tuesday, at the San Francisco Zoo. Born early this year, the young chicks have been attending fish school, where they have learned to accept fish from humans, and are ready to join the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in a zoo or aquarium environment.

AP PHOTO

HARRISBURG
Pa. layoff projection falls

Pennsylvania’s governor says he now hopes fewer than 200 state employees will have to be laid off under this year’s budget.

Gov. Ed Rendell initially estimated last month that as many as 1,000 state workers would have to be laid off.

But Rendell said Monday that more employees than expected are choosing to retire. He also says the state’s hiring freeze has helped to reduce the number.

The governor’s administration says the exact number of layoffs will not be available until next week.

ZHOUQU, China
Landslide deaths pass 700

The death toll from landslides in northwestern China more than doubled to 702 Tuesday, as rescue crews in three Asian countries struggled to reach survivors from flooding that has imperiled millions.

Rescuers digging by hand through mud found a 52-year-old man who had been trapped for more than 50 hours inside a leveled apartment building in the remote town of Zhouqu, where more than 1,000 other people were still listed as missing. Rescuers with sniffer dogs discovered the man, Liu Ma Shindan, who was weak but breathing normally.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari returned home to a storm of criticism after visiting Europe as his country was gripped by the worst floods in its history.

BAGHDAD
Iraqi protectors targeted

Explosions and gunmen in Iraq killed six people Tuesday, including two members of an anti-al-Qaida group and two policemen, officials said.

The attacks, which also injured 15 people, reflect the persistent violence directed at people responsible for protecting Iraq as American forces leave. Violence across the country has spiked in the past month as the U.S. moves ahead with a major drawdown of its troops set to be completed by the end of the month.

The most deadly incident happened in the Baghdad neighborhood of Baiyaa in the southwestern part of the city, which was wracked by a series of blasts.

Police and hospital officials said first a pair of bombs exploded on a main street in Baiyaa, without causing any injury. When a police patrol arrived minutes later, a third bomb exploded, killing three people and wounding eleven others. A policeman was among the dead and four were injured.

KABUL, Afghanistan
Civilian deaths, injuries rise

The number of Afghan civilians killed or injured in the war soared 31 percent in the first six months of the year, with Taliban bombings and assassinations largely responsible for the sharp rise, the United Nations reported Tuesday.

Hidden bombs and suicide attacks are killing and maiming so many Afghans that Amnesty International urged the Afghan government to seek prosecution of Taliban leaders for war crimes. Women and children are increasingly bearing the brunt of the conflict — even as NATO restrains the use of force on the battlefield.