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BAGHDAD (AP) — There are concerns that the Iraqi government may not be able to slow the advance of an al-Qaida inspired group that has captured two key cities this week. Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are vowing to march on to Baghdad. The militant group yesterday captured Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit (tih-KREET').
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks have opened lower, after a report showed that retail sales rose less than expected in May. There was a fourth straight month of gains, but the growth was slightly below economists' forecasts. A separate report showed that more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week.
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone has declared a state of emergency in a district near the border with Liberia because of the Ebola virus. The government says there are 46 confirmed cases and another 122 suspected ones in the district. At least 231 people have died in West Africa since the outbreak of the disease, which causes bleeding internally and externally and for which there is no known cure. Most of the deaths have been in Guinea, where the outbreak began. Seventeen have died in Sierra Leone.
PHOENIX (AP) — A Catholic church in downtown Phoenix is a crime scene this morning. Police say one priest was shot and killed and another wounded in an attack last night that may have been a botched burglary. The injured priest is hospitalized in critical condition. A police spokesman says a car linked to the attack has been located a few blocks from the church.
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A defendant in a Central California burglary case has walked out of a courtroom a free man, after a jury mistakenly signed a not-guilty verdict form. The Fresno Bee reports that the judge said he had no choice but to order defendant Bobby Lee Pearson to be set free from jail, because the not-guilty verdict had been put on the record. By the time jurors told the judge that they were actually still divided on the charges against Pearson, it was too late.
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