Los Angeles

Leaders of governor recall turn in voter signatures

Leaders of a group seeking to oust Democratic Gov. Gray Davis said Thursday they had turned in enough signatures for a recall election.

Ted Costa, coordinator of the Republican-led signature drive, said proponents turned in just more than 1 million signatures by Thursday morning. Valid signatures from 897,158 registered voters are needed for the recall to make the ballot.

The signatures turned in so far have not been validated. Because some signatures will likely be found invalid, recall backers were looking to get 1.2 million. They need to submit the signatures by Sept. 2, but are aiming for a mid-July deadline to force an election before the end of the year.

Washington, D.C.

Study: Urinary tract bacteria use structure to resist attack

Millions of people have repeated urinary tract infections, despite the high-powered antibiotics of modern medicine. A new study suggests the reason why: A germ that invades the bladder builds a fortlike colony that resists both antibiotics and the body’s own immune system.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis used a powerful electron microscope to discover that pods of bacteria routinely form inside the cells lining the walls of the bladder in mice that have E. coli bacterial infections of the urinary tract.

The bacteria form a structure called a biofilm inside the cells, with thousands of individual bacteria becoming unified into a colony that resists attack, said Dr. Joseph J. Palermo, a Washington University researcher and the co-author of a study appearing in the journal Science.

Jerusalem

Israel, Hamas claim victory; violent incidents mar truce

Israel’s army chief and Hamas replaced weapons with words Thursday, each claiming victory after 33 months of bloody conflict, while a 4-day-old truce appeared to hold despite new violence.

Israel released several Palestinian prisoners, including Suleiman Abu Mutlak, a top Palestinian security official from Gaza. Palestinians demand that Israel free more than 5,000 people captured in Israeli sweeps, but Israel has only released several dozen, many of whom had served most of their sentences.

Saudi Arabia

Bombing suspect killed

The top suspect wanted in the Riyadh suicide bombing was killed with three other militants in a gunbattle Thursday when police raided their hideout in northern Saudi Arabia, officials said.

Al-Qaida member Turki Nasser al-Dandani had been the kingdom’s most wanted man after the suspected mastermind of the Riyadh attacks turned himself in last weekend.

The fall of the top two suspects was a key success in Saudi Arabia’s crackdown on militants, sparked by the May 12 suicide bombings against Westerners’ housing compounds in Riyadh that killed 25 people as well as nine attackers.

Police swooped down early Thursday on al-Dandani and his associates, who were holed up in a house.