Gwinnett Daily Post

Car bomb kills six south of Baghdad

BAGHDAD -- A car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant killing six people south of Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi officials said, highlighting the fragile nature of Iraq's security.

The bomb in the mixed Sunni-Shiite town comes as the country enters its third month without a new government, raising concerns that violence will rise as political disputes spill out into the streets.

A spokesman for the Babil police, Maj. Muthana Khalid, said the parked car detonated in the town of Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

The car was left in front of a restaurant where people had gathered to eat grilled meat. Ten people were injured in the incident.

Taliban attack key US base in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Taliban insurgents armed with rockets, grenades and suicide vests stormed the giant U.S.-run Bagram Air Field before dawn Wednesday, triggering an eight-hour firefight that killed an American contractor and at least 10 attackers and wounded nine U.S. service members.

U.S. officials said about 30 insurgents -- some wearing military-style uniforms -- launched the attack about 3 a.m. against the gates of the Bagram base, one of the biggest and most important military installations in the country. The base is located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Kabul.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, who telephoned reporters before the U.S. announced the attack, said 20 to 30 fighters breached the defenses of the base, which serves as the control hub for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Inventor of cash machine dies at 84

LONDON -- John Shepherd-Barron, the Scotsman credited with inventing the world's first automatic cash machine, has died after a short illness. He was 84.

Shepherd-Barron died peacefully in northern Scotland's Raigmore Hospital on Saturday, funeral director Alasdair Rhind said Wednesday.

Shepherd-Barron said once that he came up with the idea of the cash machines after being locked out of his bank.

The first automatic teller machine was installed at a bank in London in 1967.