Libya: A car bomb exploded on Sunday in front of a police station in Benghazi, injuring three police officers in the latest in a series of attacks on security officials in Libya’s second largest city.
The front of the central Hadayeq police station was charred and blackened with smoke. The entrance to the station was completely damaged, with glass strewn on the street and firefighters putting out a damaged police car that was on fire.
A Reuters photographer saw three policemen receive first aid for small injuries in front of the station. Officials at the scene said there were no deaths.
A policeman who refused to be identified said the explosion went off when a homemade bomb was attached to the bottom of a parked police car in front of the station.
The Libyan government is struggling to control armed individuals and militias that gained power during an armed conflict that ousted Muammar Gaddafi last year. Benghazi was the birthplace of the revolt.
Benghazi has been hit by several bombings and attacks this year on international convoys and official buildings, the worst of which led to the death of the US ambassador in September. (Reuters)
US Air Force struggles with aging fleet
Tokyo: For decades, the US Air Force has grown accustomed to such superlatives as unrivaled and unbeatable.
These days, some of its key combat aircraft are being described with terms like geriatric, or decrepit.
The aging of the US Air Force, a long-simmering topic in defense circles, made a brief appearance in the presidential debates when Republican nominee Mitt Romney cited it as evidence of the decline of US military readiness.
His contention that the Navy is the smallest it’s been since 1917 got more attention, thanks to President Barack Obama’s quip that the Navy also has fewer “horses and bayonets.”
But analysts say the Air Force has a real problem, and it will almost certainly get worse no matter who wins Tuesday’s election.
It was created in part by a lack of urgency in the post-Cold War era, and by design glitches and cost overruns that have delayed attempts to build next-generation aircraft.
Looming budget cuts limit the force’s ability to correct itself, they argue, as China’s rise as a world power heightens its need to improve. And though the world’s most formidable air force never had much use for bayonets, it’s got more than its share of warhorses. (AP)