Reporters on the Job
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Suicide Bombing Averted: Staff writer Dan Murphy says he's clearly not as battle hardened as the Bravo Company marines he spent the past two weeks with in Iraq. After five hours in the desert and another two walking into the city of Hit, he was wiped out and never so glad to crawl into his sleeping bag on the floor of a school. A few minutes later he was already asleep.
But he was suddenly awakened by the sound of the 50 caliber machine gun firing from the Abrams tank parked in front. While marines were running around dealing with the situation, Dan was still clearing the cobwebs out of his head.
A few minutes later, Sgt. Jim Beere of Oakland, Calif., came in and told Dan what had happened. A suicide car bomber had been shot before he could explode his cargo (
see story). "The car was about 30 feet from the front door of the school,'' says Dan. "I'm not sure how much damage it would have done to us if it had blown up, but I'm glad we didn't find out.'
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Monkey Naming Rights Sold : The right to name a new species of titi monkey sold last Thursday for $650,000 in an online auction. As reported on Feb. 24 - in the article "
To protect wildlife, play 'name that primate'" - the funds will go toward protecting the Bolivian habitat where the species lives. But there's no name yet.
The winning bidder, who outbid Ellen DeGeneres, chose to remain anonymous for now, said Kelly Fiore, director of business development for the New York-based auction venue, Charity Folks. And the Associated Press reports that there was no immediate information on what the winner planned to name the species. An announcement might be made later, Ms. Fiore said.
David Clark Scott
World editor
Cultural snapshot
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NOW THAT'S A SURF BOARD:
On a 40-foot board, 47 surfers in Australia set a world record Saturday for the most surfers on a board. The previous record was 14.
STEVE HOLLAND/AP
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