Washington, D.C.: Allies bomb Iraqi military site for sixth time in a week

U.S. and British airstrikes this week reportedly damaged one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s spy centers and radar and missile sites in what has become a slow-burn air war over the decade-old no-fly zones.

One defense analyst calls the bombings a “pinprick” effort with little deterrent value. But the Pentagon says they are at least slowing Saddam hitting facilities used to attack coalition pilots patrolling the zones.

“They don’t stop him … but they make it more difficult for him,” said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan.

For the sixth time in a week, coalition aircraft Friday bombed an Iraqi defense facility. U.S. Air Force F-15E strike aircraft fired several precision-guided weapons at a surface-to-air missile launcher site in the southern zone near Al Kut, 150 miles southeast of Baghdad, a senior U.S. official said.

Texas: Bush’s childhood home for sale on eBay $250,000

Buying the West Texas house where President Bush and his father, the former president, once lived is now as easy as logging onto the Internet.

Of course, there’s a $250,000 asking price.

Houston resident Mackey Ervin and his wife, Ann, put the four-bedroom, three-bathroom Midland home up for sale on eBay on Aug. 17. It has been appraised at $103,500.

The Ervins decided to sell the home after Ann Ervin’s mother, Wilma Haynes, moved out recently to be near children and grandchildren. Haynes’ late husband had bought the home from the Bushes.

The Bush family, including sons George W. and Jeb, now Florida’s governor, lived in the house in the late 1950s.

Miami: Lawsuit settlement delayed in 2000 presidential election

The expected settlement of a federal voting rights lawsuit against Florida was delayed Friday as the civil rights team handling the case scrambled to complete last-minute paperwork.

Attorneys for the state and the plaintiffs said Friday evening that a deal had been reached, but details of the settlement could not be discussed yet. They said they would be announced next week.

The class-action lawsuit, filed by the NAACP and four other organizations, accuses Florida and two mid-state counties of not doing enough to protect minority voters in the 2000 elections. Miami-Dade, Broward and three other counties already have settled.

Afghanistan: Warlord says Taliban prisoner deaths were not intentional

A northern Afghan warlord admitted Friday that 200 Taliban prisoners died last year while being transported in shipping containers, some by suffocation, but he said the deaths were unintentional and mostly due to disease and injuries suffered in heavy fighting.

Reports that up to 960 captured Taliban fighters suffocated to death after they were crammed into unventilated metal shipping containers began emerging late last year.

Abdul Rashid Dostum, a top northern commander, said in a statement that the Taliban fighters died during a four-day operation in November to transfer them from Kunduz, which had just been captured by the then-opposition northern alliance, to the northern city of Shibergan.

The statement said 200 out of 400 people died.