Iraq

One U.S. soldier killed, 4 wounded in combat

A U.S. soldier was killed and four wounded in fighting in Iraq, the military said early today.

The soldiers were with the 3rd Infantry Division, which is charged with patrolling the capital, Baghdad, said Spc. Giovanni Llorente, a military spokesman.

The spokesman gave no details about the attack, and the names of the dead and wounded were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Facing an increasingly organized and violent resistance, the U.S. Army stepped up pressure on pro-Saddam Hussein holdouts Sunday with a fourth large offensive in central Iraq.

At least four suspected loyalists were killed and big weapons caches were captured in the operation, called Ivy Serpent, which aims to blunt potential anti-American attacks ahead of now-banned holidays of Saddam’s Baath Party.

Florida

NAACP executive director urges affirmative action

NAACP executive director Julian Bond urged states that have abandoned affirmative action policies for higher education to “come back into the Union” Sunday while criticizing President Bush and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, for challenging race-conscious admissions.

Speaking at the 94th annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Bond praised the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the use of race as a factor in university admissions policies. The Bush administration filed one of the briefs opposing the policy.

The court, however, ruled against the use of a point-based system for enrollment decisions, which was used at the University of Michigan.

“The court struck down the points but upheld the principle,” Bond said. “Since the opponents kept telling us that this was all about principle, I’d say we won!”

Bond also voiced his disappointment that neither President Bush nor his brother, Jeb Bush, attended the 2002 conference in Texas or the 2003 meeting in Florida. He also said the group intended “to uproot the bigger ‘Bush’ in 2004.”

New Hampshire

Authorities focus on Midwest in search of missing children

Investigators looking for the bodies of two children missing from New Hampshire since July Fourth focused their search Sunday along the route their father traveled across the Midwest, authorities said.

A search by Ohio state police and the FBI of open areas and parks in the Toledo area turned up nothing and was called off after more than seven hours, authorities said.

The children were last seen at a fireworks display in Concord with their father, Manuel Gehring.

Gehring was arrested Thursday at a hotel in Gilroy, Calif., and authorities announced Saturday they were treating the case as a double homicide.

According to credit card charges, authorities say, Gehring apparently traveled along Interstates 84 and 80, stopping July 5 at Newburgh, N.Y., and Emlenton, Pa.; July 6 at Joliet, Ill., and Iowa City, Iowa; July 7 at Greenwood, Neb.; July 8 at Winnemucca and Sparks, Nev.; July 9 at Rocklin, North Highlands and San Francisco; and July 10 in Gilroy.