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From NPR news in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman.

Iraq police say 2 suicide car bombs exploded at a police station today leaving at least 12 people dead. More than 80 people are hurt. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.
The attack occurred at a police compound in southwest Baghdad. The drivers of the 2 cars rammed the building and a checkpoint near the building almost simultaneously and detonated their explosives. Most of the casualties were Iraqi police. Explosions also destroyed a garage next to the police station setting numerous cars on fire. Since the Baghdad security crackdown began in February, thousands additional Iraqi and American troops have been deployed to the capital's contested neighborhoods. So insurgents have turned increasingly to suicide bombings as they're preferred weapon to inflate psychological as well as physical pain. US military commanders here acknowledged that they've seen a rise in suicide bombing since the beginning of the Baghdad security operation, the worse coming last week when nearly 200 were killed in a string of bombings in a single day. Mike Shuster, NPR news Baghdad.


Nigerian officials are casting ballots for a new president and national assembly. But election observers say confusion at the polls and charges of election fraud have marred the vote. Election Day began yesterday with the failed truck bombing at the national electoral commission headquarters. No one was hurt. Voting went ahead in most parts of Nigeria, but some polling stations opened late, others never opened at all.


The memorial services are being individually held this weekend for victims of last week's Virginia Tech shootings. Virginia Tech students are coming back to campus for classes that will resume tomorrow. NPR's Rachel Martin reports from Blacksburg Virginia.
There were services for several of the victims here in Blacksburg and in other parts of the country. And there were other special religious services to help the community of Blacksburg as a whole began to heal from the tragedy. There was an interfaced service on campus and later at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. The bishop of Virginia led a remembrance mass for all the victims and their families. But along with the heaviness of the memorials, there were some signs that people here are moving on. The Hokies girl softball team won again against Maryland and hundreds of people showed up at a picnic on the drill field in the middle of campus. The event was sponsored by a student's group called “Hokies United”. Classes are scheduled to start up again Monday morning. Rachel Martin, NPR news Blacksburg Virginia.


The Navy says the Blue Angels pilot who died yesterday in a South Carolina air show accident had been on the team for two years. The Blue Angels team had nearly completed in air show in Beaufort South Carolina when the plane went down. Witnesses say the jet dropped below the trees while flying in formation, and then crashed. Several houses and mobile homes were hit by debris. 8 people were injured on the ground. Blue Angels pilots are considered among the navy's elite. They fly planes at very high speeds closed together and performed complicated maneuvers. A spokesman for the Blue Angels said an investigation is under way.

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French voters are choosing a new president. They are three leading candidates and is wildly expected there will be a runoff between the top 2 vote-getters. Socialist Segolene Royal is hoping to become French's first female president. She is opposed by conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and centrist Francois Bayrou.

More than 100 boats are still stuck in severe ice of Newfoundland. The wind has shifted, but only a few boats have escaped. Richard Knox reports from Toronto.
The coast guard brought in 3 icebreakers earlier this week to help free the boats, but 2 of them got stuck in the ice and had to be rescued by the larger ice breaker, even so a few the smaller fishing boats were rescued, but the intense pressure on the ice caused by the wind continues. The pressure is so intense that a many incenses that trapped bow has been squeezed right out of the water and it's lying on its side on the surface of the ice. Over a 500 crew had been evacuated by helicopter. Over 20 boats have been abandoned so far. The coast guard says that many of those boats have begun to take on water and will sink once the ice begins to break up. The weather service says the winds should begin to shift in the next few days, but even that it may be a few more days before the ice begins to break up. For NPR news, I'm Richard Knox in Toronto.


Fighting is picked up in Somalia between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian soldiers. There have been 4 days of intense violence in Mogadishu. One human rights group reports this is the worst fighting in years. Scores of civilians are dead, others are fleeing the capital. A small African Union peacekeeping force made up of 15,00 Ugandan soldiers has failed to stop the violence, most soldiers are encamped around the airport.

I'm Korva Coleman, NPR news in Washington.