World Briefs

BAGHDAD – CHEERED WILDLY BY U. S. troops, President Barack Obama flew unannounced into Iraq on Tuesday and promptly declared it was time for Iraqis to "take responsibility for their country" after America's commitment of six years and thousands of lives.

"You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country," the president said as he made a brief inspection of a war he opposed as candidate and now vows to end as commander in chief. "That is an extraordinary achievement."

BINGHAMTON, N. Y. – Police on Tuesday said they have no reason to doubt that a letter mailed to a TV station forecasting last week's mass shooting at an immigrant center was written by the gunman, 41-year-old Jiverly Wong.

The letter received by Syracuse TV station News 10 Now Wong blamed his troubles on the police and vowed to take at least two people "to return to the dust of earth."

NAIROBI, Kenya – For the first three months of 2009, Somalia's notorious pirates faded from the headlines as a massive international naval force moved in, and many observers thought the pirates were running scared.

Not so fast: the pirates have hijacked at least five vessels since Saturday. Using a new strategy, they are operating further away from warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden. And they no longer have to contend with choppy waters that always plague the seas off Somalia early in the year.

L'AQUILA, Italy – A strong tremor shook quake-hit areas of central Italy on Tuesday and sent rescuers and residents fleeing from damaged buildings in the ravaged medieval city of L'Aquila.

Chunks of concrete dropped from already crumbling buildings and the shock was felt as far away as Rome, 70 miles to the southwest. The ANSA news agency said at least one person was killed near L'Aquila. The official toll from the quake stood at 207 dead, 15 missing and some 1,000 injured.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon spent more than $100 million in the last six months responding to and repairing damage from cyber attacks and other computer network problems.

Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton said the military is only beginning to track the costs, which are triggered by constant daily attacks against military networks. "The important thing is that we recognize that we are under assault from the least sophisticated — what I would say the bored teenager — all the way up to the sophisticated nation-state," said Chilton.

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