Nation briefs 8/1/06

FDA to consider allowing 'Plan B' over-the-counter

WASHINGTON -- The government is considering allowing over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, called Plan B, to women 18 and older -- a surprise move Monday that revives efforts to widen access to the emergency contraceptive almost a year after it was thought doomed. The announcement came just 24 hours before President Bush's nominee to lead the regulatory agency, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, was scheduled to appear before a Senate committee, where he was expected to face grilling on why the morning-after pill had apparently gone into bureaucratic limbo.

Bush dismisses Middle East cease-fire plans

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- President Bush acknowledged growing international pressure for an immediate Middle East cease-fire Monday but dismissed any idea of simply "stopping for the sake of stopping" without a plan for lasting peace. In an interview, Bush said the United States was working with allies for a U. N. Security Council resolution to get a "sustainable cease-fire, a cease-fire which will last" -- but not necessarily anything immediate.

Eight shot in Pittsburgh club; 3 critically injured

PITTSBURGH -- Eight people were shot at a crowded downtown nightclub early Monday, including three who were critically wounded, authorities said. Police had no suspects. About 400 people were in the Touch nightclub when the shooting happened around 1:15 a.m., said Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki. Seven people were taken to hospitals and the eighth walked in, police said. It was not clear whether more than one person fired or what prompted the shootings, Stangrecki said. No one reported seeing a fight or argument beforehand.

Fidel Castro has surgery; steps down temporarily

HAVANA -- Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans in a statement that he had undergone surgery. The Cuban leader said he had suffered intestinal bleeding, according to the letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos Valenciaga. Castro said he was temporarily relinquishing the presidency to his brother and successor Raul, the defense minister. He said the move was of "a provisional character."

Iraqi gunmen seize 26 in raids in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen dressed in military fatigues burst into the offices of the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and a nearby mobile phone company Monday, seizing 26 people in a daylight raid in a mostly Shiite area of the capital. Also Monday, at least 30 people were killed or found dead in political or sectarian violence across the country, police said. They included four Iraqi soldiers killed in a suicide bombing in northern Iraq, the first such attack in the Kurdish-ruled province of Dahuk.

-- From wire reports