Bomber strikes during U.S. raid in Iraq, 11 killed

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Eleven Iraqis were killed on Sunday during a U.S. raid on a home in northern Iraq in which a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest among civilians inside, the U.S. military said.

A U.S. military spokesman said it was not clear how many of the victims died as a result of the bomb blast and how many as a result of shooting.

Three women and three children were among those killed during the raid, which targeted a wanted man in Mosul, some 390 km (240 miles), north of Baghdad.

A U.S. statement said that U.S. forces exchanged fire with armed men as they entered the building in pursuit of the wanted man, and the bomber detonated his vest shortly after.

"At this point, we are not sure if each died specifically from gunshot wounds, effects from the blast or a combination of both," U.S. Lieutenant Commander David Russell said in an email.

Another U.S. spokesman had earlier said he believed all the Iraqi deaths were caused by the suicide bomber.

Qais Ahmed, a doctor in the Mosul morgue that received the bodies of those killed in the raid, said most of the corpses bore evidence of injuries both from a blast and from gunfire.

"The bodies were received by the morgue, all carrying injuries (apparently from an explosion) and gunshot wounds, except the bodies of the three women. They bear no injuries, just gunshot wounds," he said.

Russell could not confirm whether any U.S. soldiers had been killed or injured in the raid.

The U.S. soldiers later found weapons and explosives in the building, the military said.

Original here

Arnold Schwarzenegger: California needs $7 billion loan to fend off credit crisis

By Tom Leonard in New York

Governor Schwarzenegger: 'The economic fallout from this national credit crisis continues to drain state tax coffers' Photo: EPA

In a letter sent on Thursday to Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, Mr Schwarzenegger, California's governor, made clear that his state was running out of money because its usual borrowing channels had suddenly closed.

He made clear there would be grave consequences for the ability of American states to keep providing basic services if the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan is not passed by the US House of Representatives.

That even America's richest and most populous state should face such severe financial problems illustrates the extent to which credit markets have seized up in the two weeks since the failure of the investment bank Lehman Brothers.

The US government has not been called on to make such a large emergency loan since New York City borrowed $2.3 billion – equivalent to $9.4 billion today – to stave off bankruptcy in 1975.

In his letter, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Mr Schwarzenegger pointed out that his state planned to issue $7 billion in revenue anticipation notes in the coming days to pay for its short-term cash needs.

He wrote: "Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis, California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the federal treasury for short-term financing."

A senior Schwarzenegger aide followed up the letter with a call to the Treasury Secretary on Thursday night, said the newspaper.

Mr Schwarzenegger wrote: "The economic fallout from this national credit crisis continues to drain state tax coffers, making it even more difficult to weather the continuation of frozen credit markets for any length of time."

On Wednesday, Bill Lockyer, California's treasurer, said its cash reserves may run dry by the end of October, leading to the suspension of payments to schools and other state-financed services.

Original here

Woman buys house for $1.75 on eBay

Plenty of news stories point to gloom and doom in the U.S. economy, and "FMF" at Free Money Finance informed his readers about three: Car sales have tanked, bidding for a date with tennis star Maria Sharapova topped out at a mere $10,000, and -- the craziest by far -- a woman bought an old vacant house in Michigan for $1.75.

FMF said in his tongue-in-cheek way, "I knew things were bad in Michigan, but never thought they were this bad."

Joanne Smith, 30, of Chicago made the successful bid for the Saginaw house in an auction on eBay. Reporter Roberto Acosta of The Saginaw News noted that her bid, one of eight, was lower than the cost of a McDonald's value meal.

Smith told The Saginaw News that she's never visited Saginaw and hadn't seen the house, which looks pretty rundown in a photo at MSNBC. A notice on the door says a foreclosure hearing on the property is pending in January.

The house will actually be more expensive. Back taxes and yard cleanup will cost $850, The Associated Press reports. Smith said her plan is to sell it.

An enterprising reader of the newspaper, "zifferent," found tax information for the property online. It has a taxable value this year of $2,874. Another reader, "tightwork," commented, "I know that she wishes she would have bought a McDonald's meal instead."

FMF was most impressed with the Sharapova charity auction story. "When a date with Maria Sharapova goes for only $10k, you know we're in financial Armageddon!" he said.

Original here