■ Iraq
Baghdad journalist killed
A television correspondent was shot and killed on Monday as he chatted with friends outside a mosque after prayers, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said. The committee condemned the murder of Ahmed Riyadh al-Karbouli, 25, who worked for Baghdad TV -- a satellite channel owned by the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party -- and was shot by six men in two cars in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. "Journalists in Ramadi report under intolerable conditions without any protection to tell the world what is happening in this hotbed of the Iraqi insurgency," CPJ executive director Joel Simon said.
■ United States
New York battles bed bugs
New York City is experiencing a dramatic resurgence in bedbugs -- those pesky oval insects that hide in the crevices of furniture and feast on human blood at night -- and officials are confounded about how best to respond. Moreover, city officials revealed on Monday that state regulators had failed to publish standards for sanitizing used mattresses and box springs before they can be resold -- even though such standards were supposed to be developed years ago. In the last fiscal year, the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development received 4,638 complaints about bedbugs in rental housing.
■ United States
`Straight' men have gay sex
A substantial percentage of men who have homosexual sex still consider themselves "straight," a survey of New York City men suggests. The findings imply that doctors should not rely on a man's self-described sexual orientation in assessing his risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The findings are based on a 2003 health department survey in which respondents were asked about their sexual behavior and their sexual orientation. Almost 4 percent said they were homosexual, while 91 percent described themselves as "straight."
■ Brazil
Lula hit by graft allegations
New corruption allegations and the resignation of a presidential aide have shaken the campaign of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva less than two weeks before the Oct.1 presidential election that most polls say he will win. Federal police on Monday were looking into allegations that Silva's Workers Party agreed to pay 1.7 million reals (US$770,000) for a dossier that would incriminate opposition politician Jose Serra, who is widely favored to win the gubernatorial race in Sao Paulo, Brazil's wealthiest state. Over the weekend, police arrested Sao Paulo lawyer Gedimar Pereira Passos who told investigators he was hired to purchase the dossier by a group of middlemen acting for the Workers Party.
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