Nats' Johnson, 69, feels numbness in left leg

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:03 p.m. ET Oct. 3, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) - Manager Davey Johnson missed the end of the Washington Nationals' regular-season finale after numbness in his left leg because of a back problem.

After NL East champion Washington's 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, the 69-year-old Johnson - the oldest skipper in the majors - said he started losing feeling in his leg during the third inning and took a muscle relaxer and aspirin.

Still not feeling OK by the seventh, he left the dugout. A team doctor took X-rays and gave Johnson anti-inflammatory medicine.

Johnson doesn't anticipate any problems traveling or managing during the playoffs. The Nationals will fly Saturday and open their NL division series at Atlanta or St. Louis on Sunday.

Asked his level of concern about Johnson, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo replied: "None."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49279242/ns/sports-baseball/

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Adelaide Screenwriter: Book review: Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade

I remember reading Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade by William Froug for the first time years ago, and quoting part of it at a screenwriter's meeting. It was the first book I'd come across which explicitly highlighted the failures of the Three-Act Theory, and I was delighted. Rereading it now, I'm more impressed than ever.?

William Froug is an Emmy award-winning American television writer and producer. Shows he worked on include: The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, The Dick Powell Show, Charlie's Angels, and The New Twilight Zone. He has also written numerous books on screenwriting, including Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade, Zen and the Art of Screenwriting (I and II), The Screenwriter Looks at the Screenwriter and How I Escaped from Gilligan's Island.

This is a book worth buying, reading and rereading. What follows are some selected quotes:

• My method is simple. See movies, as many as possible, and take from each one the important lessons that each has to offer.
• I never see a film without analyzing the story structure, the core conflict, the line of action and counter-action, the opening signal, the theme, the protagonist, the antagonist, and so on.
• Some screenwriters will think about a story for years before committing it to paper.
• If you can write one really terrific scene per day, you are doing very well, indeed. Sometimes a single scene will take several days to work out properly.
• Don't place yourself on self-imposed deadlines.
• The secret of success as a screenwriter is simple: Keep the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair.
• Work out as many of the story problems that you can before you begin to write. Otherwise, you might very well fall into the writer's worst trap, writing in circles...
• A dramatic story is any series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, striking interest or results.
• It doesn't matter one bit how often your story has been told before; you must retell it better, with a fresh and different approach. If you can do that, your story will seem like the newest idea ever presented.
• When you tell an old story in a new way, it becomes a new story.
• Old stories never die, they often merely improve with the retelling.
• Character is story and story is character; they are each by-products of the other.
• I have found character to be the single best story-source for drama.
• The most popular game in Hollywood is recycling. Hardly a meeting goes on without beginning or diverting into discussions of what qualities previous movies had that made them winners.
• If you hope to participate in these professional story conferences, you'd damn well better be film literate.
• In order to create viable art that will hold someone's attention, you must have dramatic tension. Which, in screenwriting, is created by a line of action and opposing forces.
• Tension = Attention.
• Great screenplays have a single line of action and equally powerful opposing forces.?
• Your protagonist does not have to be likeable.
• What you must create is a protagonist who is fascinating, compelling, interesting, and understandable.?
• Scorsese is often called "America's greatest director" on the strength of a body of work in which all the characters in his movies are various degrees of wicked and miserable people.?
• Watching villainy lets people vent their rage in a harmless way.
• Unless the threat is deadly serious, it's a joke and your protagonist will be ridiculed.
• Try to avoid static locations such as offices, hotel rooms, park benches? any place where you are apt to have two or more characters sitting around talking to each other.
• If, on the other hand, the scene must be played in a room, make certain it has a strong emotional dynamic, that something important is being talked about, and that there is tension or conflict between the talkers.
• What works best in scenes is what works best in stories?a strong element of surprise.
• In building your scene, do not tell us where we have been or where we are going next.
• Avoid entrances and exits.
• Scenes will play and write better if each character in your scene has a single goal or purpose for this particular scene.
• Every character must have an attitude to make the scene play.
• Look for the subtext in every scene?what's really going on as opposed to what appears to be going on.
• Creating new and fresh scenes is one of the most important aspects of becoming a successful screenwriter. For this reason, I have lost my infatuation with Syd Field's paradigm.
• If you like formulas, buy Syd's book Screenplay. It will help some writers and hinder others.
• I know Syd Field and respect him; we served on the Writers Guild Academic Liaison Committee together, and I think his contribution to understanding story structure is an important one. But, like all formulas, his tends to wear itself out with repeated use.
• The great American movies usually defy formula writing.
• I attended a seminar on "Film & Literature." One of the panelists remarked, surprisingly, that all movies are told in three acts, to which fellow-panelist screenwriter William Goldman remarked wryly, "Really, I didn't know that."
• The reality is that there are no clearly defined "Acts" in screenplays. An "Act" is whatever you choose to say it is.
• When you structure your movie, there is no one-size-fits-all.
• Modern moviegoers are annoyed when you show or tell them something they have already figured out for themselves. Trust your audiences; they are not as dumb as the cynics would have you believe.
• An outline might be helpful but most certainly is not necessary for all screenwriters. Again, no one-size-fits-all guideline applies.
• The best way to tell your story is the way the story itself dictates. Do not try to contort it into a predetermined form.
• The idea that all screenplays are written in three "acts" is nonsense. The truth is many screenplays use five acts, six acts, two acts, or any number of large, developmental story sections.?
• Avoid rigidity, it is the death of creativity.
• It is helpful to know your theme before you begin to write, though it is not absolutely necessary, but you had better know it before you finish the screenplay.
• A theme is simply a proposition leading to a conclusion.
• Some call the theme a premise or a thesis. It does not matter what you call it, but you cannot write an outstanding screenplay without knowing what it is about.?
• Many screenwriters complete their screenplays without ever knowing what they're about. The result is, almost invariably, an empty and unsuccessful piece of work.
• There is more than one theme in a good movie; there are often many minor themes running concurrently, but there is only one major theme.
• Frank Pierson told an important story about the need to find the theme or "take" on your protagonist before you write your screenplay. Frank had accepted a contract to write what he later titled Dog Day Afternoon, but he simply could not figure out what his protagonist was all about. He finally decided (the Al Pacino character) was a man trying to make everybody happy in all circumstances.?
• The theme of this excellent movie is, If you try to please all the people all the time, you are doomed to failure.
• One minute per page is average playing time for a movie. However, this can vary as much as twenty or thirty minutes for a two hour fim, depending on the pace of the director.
• A story must be underway on page one; something is happening or about to happen.
• You do not need to set up your protagonist; your protagonist must "set up" himself or herself by his or her behavior and by the circumstances in which we discover him or her. Nothing more needs to be said.
• Actors can say more with an exchange of glances than all your wordiness can convey. Trust the actors. I do not mean you should trust them as writers?far from it. Trust them to deliver much more than you ever expected from their first performance. Like it or not, if you are determined to be a dramatist, actors will be your lifetime collaborators.
• What your audience does not know but wants to know is an excellent device to hold their attention.
• The way people actually talk to each other and movie dialogue have nothing in common. Your job as a dramatist is to create the illusion of real dialogue. It is easy only if you work very hard at it, edit yourself carefully, rewrite it endlessly, polish it, until the characters say only what must be said and nothing else.
• Write what you truly believe in, what excites you, what you care about?the kind of movie you would pay money to see. That's the formula.
  

Source: http://adelaidescreenwriter.blogspot.com/2012/10/book-review-screenwriting-tricks-of.html

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In the Heart of my Home: 31 Days to Remind Myself of the Mission

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"Increasingly, I find that women are unsure about what it means to be a good mother. They are confused by a culture that send them drastically mixed messages about the importance of a mother's influence and whet her priorities should be. As a result, so many mothers I meet are baffled and frustrated. They don't know how to reconcile these conflicting messages with the calling of God on their hearts and lives.

What's the cure for this confusion? I believe it lies with a rediscovery of the traditional mission of motherhood, a rediscovery of what God had in mind when he designed families. And the fundamental mission of motherhood now is the same as it always was: to nurture, protect, and instruct children, to create a home environment that enables them to learn and grow, to help them develop a heart for God and His purposes, and to send them out into the world prepared to live both fully and meaningfully. It's up to us to embrace that mission as our own, trusting God to walk us through the details and to use our willing mothers' hands as instruments of his blessings."

~Sally Clarkson, The Mission of Motherhood

I've been deeply pondering mission lately. I look around (click around) and there are so many good ideas, so many ways to go, so many rabbit trails enticing me to hop along down a different path. I am impassioned by the needs in my community and the needs in worlds far away from my home. I want to travel, to serve, to do big things to make a difference for God.

And then there is my written mission. Long have words been my instruments. What is God saying? What does He want me to tell? How best to convey the message?The internet has made those questions dizzying. There is so much out there and to publish now is to have a firm grasp on all of it. No one wants a writer without a social network platform. No more curling up on the porch in your jeans with a Bible and pecking out a few words. Now, authors must build dynasties. It's impossible to scroll through my Twitter feed without countless people telling me what new "must do" is on the social network scene. Today, it was "Why Bloggers Must Adapt or Die." Every day, it's something. And it's never something that gives me more time and attention for my children. Honestly, it makes me wonder if it wouldn't really be wiser just to let the blogger in me die.

It used to be that writing about marriage and motherhood just grew out living marriage and motherhood, praying about marriage and motherhood, and some very intentional (limited) reading about marriage and motherhood. Now, it's gotten really complicated to be a mom.

I am bombarded (are you, too?). Pinterest and a million good ideas a day, but no time or energy left to bring them all to life. Facebook and dozens of connections and thoughts and inspirations (and arguments) but no one with a kitchen table where we can just sit and have tea. And Twitter. Relationships built on sand 140 characters at a time.

It's so easy to be distracted from the mission.

So, what to do when I think that really it might be better not to spend so much time investing online? Why, sign up to write something on a topic every single day for the next 31 days, of course! I am nothing if not a contradiction.?

My idea is that I must wrestle this one to the ground. I'm going to take one solid biblically based book, written by a woman who has walked this path before me and whose children have grown into Godly young people and I am going to be still long enough to steep in the wisdom. I'm not going to flit from one shiny idea to an other. I'm not going to blog bounce. I'm not going to tweet or update statuses. I'm going to spend 31 days reading, praying, and reminding myself of vocation.

A call from God to a distinctive state of life, in which the person can reach holiness. The Second Vatican Council made it plain that there is a "Universal call [vocatio] to holiness in the Church" (Lumen Gentium, 39). (Etym. Latin vocatio, a calling, summoning; from vocare, to call.)

Here's the thing: I am never certain what God is calling me to do outside my home. I wonder about being a missionary abroad. I wonder about apostolates in my community. I look at what other women are doing for God online and I'm blown away by their energy, efficiency, and productivity and I wonder if I'm not squandering something at the computer.

But I have always been certain ?that God calls me to serve Him in my home, with my family. I am certain that He calls me to holiness here.?

So, 31 days to remind myself of the mission. He's calling my heart home. Still.?

Fair warning: I have no idea what this is going to look like. I'm going to read and to pray, to journal here. I'm going to be committed to home and to family and to listening to my Creator. The rest? We shall see. My blog is not my "brand." It's my scrapbook of thoughts and photographs.

Are you thinking about the mission of motherhood, too??I'm going to join The?Nester for 31 Days. I'm going to host a 31 day "retreat"here ?to remind myself (and anyone who wants to come along) of the mission of motherhood and matrimony.?If you want to do your own 31 Days on anything you choose, head?here and join!?If you want to retreat from the noise of the 'net for a month and focus your own sweet home and family, grab a ?Remind Myself of the Mission? button and curl up with a candle, your Bible, and this good book!?Let me know your thoughts below. We can help each other hear His mission.?You can add a Remind Myself button by cutting and pasting the code below.

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<a href="http://www.elizabethfoss.com/reallearning/2012/09/31-days-to-remind-myself-of-the-mission.html" _mce_href="http://www.elizabethfoss.com/reallearning/2012/09/31-days-to-remind-myself-of-the-mission.html"><img src="http://www.elizabethfoss.com/.a/6a00d8341c543553ef017c323f2b90970b-pi" _mce_src="http://www.elizabethfoss.com/.a/6a00d8341c543553ef017c323f2b90970b-pi"width="150"height="150"border="0" alt="31 days Misson"/></a>

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Source: http://www.elizabethfoss.com/reallearning/2012/09/31-days-to-remind-myself-of-the-mission.html

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Nearly half of Yemenis go hungry post-revolt, says WFP

SANAA (Reuters) - Nearly half of Yemenis go to bed hungry every night as political instability compounds a global food and fuel price surge, giving the Arabian Peninsula state the world's third-highest rate of child malnutrition, the World Food Programme said on Sunday.

Yemen has been in turmoil since last year's revolt against 33 years of rule by Ali Abdullah Saleh when already weak state control in outlying regions broke down as the army split into pro- and anti-Saleh factions and al Qaeda militants occupied some areas.

Forced to import most of its food needs because of a paucity of arable land, Yemen has also suffered from a rise in global food and fuel prices, WFP spokesman Barry Came told Reuters.

"Five million people, or 22 percent of the population, can't feed themselves or buy enough to feed themselves ... These are mostly landless laborers, so they don't grow their own food, and with high food prices they can't buy it either," said Came.

"In addition, there is another five million who are being really hard hit by high food prices and on the edge of being food insecure. So 10 million people in this country go to bed hungry every night."

The number of people receiving daily WFP food rations has risen from 1.2 million in January to over 3.8 million, but poor infrastructure and fear of kidnappings by tribes have complicated the logistics of providing food aid.

"They are really hit by fuel and food price rises ... but there's also political instability, conflict, terrorist activity and huge population displacement," he said. "Without political security and stability you can't solve the problem."

MALNOURISHED

Thirteen percent of Yemeni children were now acutely malnourished as a result of the political and economic strains of the past year, giving Yemen the third-highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, he said.

Saleh was forced to stand down in February after over 2,000 people died. Came said there were now 500,000 internally displaced Yemenis after the fight with militants in the south and Saleh's 2009/10 war against Shi'ite Islamists known as Houthis north of Sanaa.

International donors pledged $1.46 billion in aid to the country of 24 million at a meeting in New York on Thursday attended by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who said the pledge would help Yemen avoid a civil war.

Donors, who include permanent U.N. Security Council members China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, as well as Gulf Arab states, had already promised $6.4 billion but will expect more action on political and security reform in return.

Restoring stability has become an international priority for fear Islamist militants will further entrench themselves in a country neighboring top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and lying on major world shipping lanes.

Central government also faces a campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations by militants in revenge for army operations and U.S. missile strikes against them. (Writing by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Sophie Hares)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nearly-half-yemenis-hungry-post-revolt-says-wfp-182740149.html

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Spain crisis fuels Catalan separatist sentiment

FILE - Demonstrators wave Catalan flags during a protest rally in Barcelona , Spain, in this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 file photo. Thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona on Tuesday demanding independence for Catalonia, on the Catalonia region's 'National Day". On Thursday, regional lawmakers voted to hold a referendum for Catalonia's seven million citizens to decide whether they want to break away from Spain. The Spanish government says that the referendum would be unconstitutional. And it's unclear if the "Yes" vote would win ? even in these restless times. But it looks more likely than ever that Catalonia may ask to go its own way. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

FILE - Demonstrators wave Catalan flags during a protest rally in Barcelona , Spain, in this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 file photo. Thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona on Tuesday demanding independence for Catalonia, on the Catalonia region's 'National Day". On Thursday, regional lawmakers voted to hold a referendum for Catalonia's seven million citizens to decide whether they want to break away from Spain. The Spanish government says that the referendum would be unconstitutional. And it's unclear if the "Yes" vote would win ? even in these restless times. But it looks more likely than ever that Catalonia may ask to go its own way. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Three weeks after a massive Catalan separatist march in Barcelona ? the biggest since the 1970s ? the independence flags still flutter from balconies across Spain's second largest city.

Spain's crushing recession has had this divisive consequence: soaring popular sentiment in Catalonia that the affluent region would be better off as a separate nation.

On Thursday, regional lawmakers voted to hold a referendum for Catalonia's seven million citizens to decide whether they want to break away from Spain. The Spanish government says that the referendum would be unconstitutional. And it's unclear if the "Yes" vote would win ? even in these restless times.

But it looks more likely than ever that Catalonia may ask to go its own way.

"I have a big Catalan flag on the balcony. I put it up a week before the demonstration on Sept. 11 and it is still hanging there," said Gemma Mondon, 46, a mother of two. "I think we would be better off if we can manage our money. I think we would do much better."

Catalonia, a northeastern region that is historically one of Spain's wealthiest and most industrialized, has always harbored a strong nationalist streak. Separatism is especially entrenched in the rural towns and villages outside its more cosmopolitan capital Barcelona, where people switch between speaking Spanish and Catalan with ease and at times without even noticing.

In the peaceful transition from the Franco dictatorship to prosperous democracy, Catalans were content just to recover the freedom to openly speak, teach and publish in their own Catalan language, a right denied under Franco for over 30 years.

But now, generations-old grievances for more self-government and recognition of their culture are rising to the surface as the economic downturn bites.

Many Catalans feel their quest for a sense for nationhood has been frustrated by the intransigence of the central government in Madrid. The most recent of these clashes came in 2010 when Spain's Constitutional Court weakened the Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia, a sweeping package of laws that devolved more power to the region and would have recognized Catalonia as a nation, albeit one within Spain.

Spain's slump, which has led to a spike in unemployment and harsh austerity cuts, has proven to be the tipping point for many Catalans who used to be against or ambivalent about seeking their own state.

Mondon, who works for a family run real estate management firm, said that just over a year ago she voted "No" in a nonbinding referendum organized by pro-independence groups. Now, she says she has changed her mind.

"I always felt Spanish and Catalan and I never had the urge to be independent. A year ago I just wanted to be left alone to speak my language and raise my children in a Catalan school," said Mondon. "My attitude was 'don't bother me,' but now that has changed."

Catalonia will go to the polls on Nov. 25, with regional president Artur Mas' center-right nationalist party Convergencia i Unio expected to increase its hold of the regional parliament. Mas has said he will hold a referendum on Catalonia's self-determination, whether the Spanish government permits it or not. The date has yet to be set.

"If the Spanish government authorizes (the referendum), more the better," said Mas. "If the Spanish government turns its back on us and doesn't authorize a referendum or another type of vote, well, we will do it anyway."

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insists the country's constitution doesn't allow a region to secede on its own, and experts say it would be virtually impossible for Catalan separatists to get it changed. Spain's Basque region, the other part of the country with a strong separatist movement, tried to get such a move approved in Parliament in 2005 but failed.

"It's not a scenario planned by the constitution," said Francisco Perez-Latre, a communications professor at the University of Navarra who has closely monitored the Catalan independence movement for years.

The new political uncertainty about the economically important region and major tourism destination is unsettling for investors already worried about Rajoy's ability to keep his country's shaky economy afloat, and within the euro currency club.

There are also doubts about how well-equipped Catalonia would be to go it alone.

Catalonia, sitting on its own mountain of debt, has in fact asked Spain for a ?5.9 billion bailout. But many Catalans argue that the region is only heavily indebted because it has to pay more than its fair due in taxes compared to services and funding it gets in return. Spain's other better-off regions also give more than they receive. Rajoy, however, has emboldened Catalan separatists by flatly rejecting demands for more power in levying tax revenues and deciding how it is spent, privileges granted to two other Spanish regions: the Basque Country and Navarra.

Rajoy's stance has combined with Spain's gloomy prospects to push Catalans who never wanted to break away from Spain before to conclude that the country itself is a failure.

"I put the Catalan flag on my balcony for the first time. Normally, I have been very discreet with my political ideas. But I think now I have to go a step further," said architect Albert Estanyol, 48, whose mother came from southern Spain. "Before, when asked about independence, I would say 'Why?' Now, I say, 'Why not?'"

Catalonia has over 800,000 unemployed, almost 22 percent of its population. That's slightly lower than Spain's national jobless rate, but the back-to-back recessions have been particularly hard on young workers in Catalonia. Since 2007, over 100,000 Catalans under 25 have lost their jobs, and the unemployment rate for workers under 25 has skyrocketed to over 50 percent, close to the national level for the same age bracket.

"I have looked for work. Since I was 18 I have had six or seven jobs, they have all been unstable, poorly paid, like filling in for two weeks at IKEA. They have had nothing to do with what I studied," said Roger Cervino, a 23-year-old who holds a degree in history.

"The economic situation is bad and one of the solutions to ending the crisis is secession. It would be complicated, but Catalonia has the capacity to reach full employment," he said. "What stops it is Spain, and above all the Spanish government, which has been a disaster."

___

Alan Clendenning contributed from Madrid.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-30-Spain-Catalan%20Independence/id-6ad77c6f8015456e8185399a81ebcd93

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Bombs rock Iraq, killing 26 in coordinated attacks

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Bombs striking Shiite neighborhoods, security forces and other targets across Iraq killed at least 26 people Sunday, officials said, in the latest instance of coordinated violence to take a sectarian bent and undermine confidence in the beleaguered government.

The deadliest attack came in the town of Taji, a former al-Qaida stronghold just north of Baghdad, where three explosive-rigged cars went off within minutes of each other. Police said eight people died and 28 were injured in the back-to-back blasts that began around 7:15 a.m.

In all, at least 94 people were wounded in the wave of attacks that stretched from the restive but oil-rich city of Kirkuk in Iraq's north to the southern Shiite town of Kut.

Spokesmen for the government and Baghdad's military command could not immediately be reached for comment, and no one claimed responsibility for the violence immediately.

Car bombs however are a hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq. The Sunni militant network has vowed to take back areas of the country, like Taji, from which it was pushed before U.S. troops withdrew last December.

Shiite lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, a member of parliament's security and defense committee, said the attacks were a sign al-Qaida "is still in business." He said a deadly weekend prison break in Tikrit in which many al-Qaida-linked convicts escaped, likely boosted the terror network's morale and spurred Sunday's assault.

"Al-Qaida leaders have no intention of leaving this country or letting Iraqis live in peace," al-Zamili said. "Thus, we should expect more attacks in the near future. The situation in Iraq is still unstable ... and repetition of such attacks shows that our security forces are still unqualified to deal with the terrorists," he added.

Shortly after the Taji attacks, police said a suicide bomber set off his explosives-packed car in the Shiite neighborhood of Shula in northwest Baghdad. One person was killed and seven wounded. Police could not immediately identify the target.

"So many people were hurt. A leg of a person was amputated," lamented Shula resident Naeem Frieh. "What have those innocent people done to deserve this?"

And in Baghdad's bustling Karradah neighborhood, a parked car laden with explosives went off next to a police patrol, killing a police officer and a civilian, other officials said. Eight other people were injured. The blast was followed minutes later by another parked car bomb as people gathered, killing three civilians and injuring 12 others, they added. Secondary bomb blasts targeting those coming to help the wounded are a common insurgent tactic.

An Associated Press cameraman was knocked to the ground in the second explosion and an AP photographer was slightly injured.

Elsewhere in the country, another suicide bomber drove a minibus into a security checkpoint in Kut, located 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad. Three police officers were killed and five wounded, Maj. Gen. Hussein Abdul-Hadi Mahbob said.

And in Iraq's north, another policeman was killed when security forces were trying to defuse a car bomb parked on the main highway between the cities of Kirkuk and Tuz Khormato, said Kirkuk police chief Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir. A second policeman was wounded in the blast, Qadir said. Kirkuk is about 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.

In mid-morning, another parked car bomb went off next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims in the town of Madain, killing three Iraqis and injuring 11 others including seven Iranians, another police officer and health official said. Madain is a mainly Sunni area located 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

In the town of Balad Ruz, 75 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a parked car bomb targeted a passing police patrol, killing two policemen and injuring seven others, a police officer and health official said. And in the nearby town of Khan Bani Saad, 15 kilometers (nine miles) northeast of Baghdad, yet another parked car bomb exploded near a market and killed one civilian and injured nine others, they added.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in the town of Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, when their patrol hit a roadside bomb, another police officer and health official said. Six other people, including four civilians were wounded.

Health officials in Taji, Tarmiyah and Baghdad confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to release information.

Earlier this summer, the Iraqi wing of al-Qaida, also called the Islamic State of Iraq, launched a campaign dubbed "Breaking the Walls," which aimed at retaking strongholds from which it was driven by the American military. At its peak, al-Qaida in Iraq brutalized its victims with publicized beheadings, suicide bombings and roadside bombs that targeted the Shiite government, the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians.

In an attempt to goad Shiite militias to respond, Al-Qaida bombed the revered al-Askari Shiite shrine in Samarra in 2006 ? an attack that launched Iraq's descent into more than three years of sectarian fighting. But the Iraqi wing of al-Qaida was shunned by the worldwide terror network's central leadership, which chided it for killing civilians.

The insurgency made a series of other missteps ? imposing overly strict Islamic discipline and alienating tribal leaders ? that undercut its support in Iraq's Sunni communities and helped lead to the widespread defection of fighters to groups allied with the U.S. As a result, the flow of funding, arms and fighters slowed to a trickle, and al-Qaida in Iraq has struggled to command much power.

Violence has dropped since the height of Iraq's bloodshed a few years ago, but Iraqi forces have failed to stop the attacks that continue to claim lives almost daily.

_____

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report from Baghdad.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bombs-rock-iraq-killing-26-coordinated-attacks-141958062.html

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