Obama to seek $83.4 billion for Iraq and Afghan wars

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama asked Congress on Thursday for $83.4 billion for U.S. military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, pressing for special troop funding that he opposed two years ago when he was senator and George W. Bush was president.

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Italy quake death toll rises to 287

This quake-ravaged medieval city took a limping step toward normalcy Thursday as butchers, bakers and other shopkeepers reopened for business and firefighters began entering buildings to grab essential items for the homeless.

Three days after the quake the made the historic center uninhabitable and halted nearly all economic activity, the death toll reached 287, civil protection authorities said Thursday night. Police said the victims including 20 children and teens.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the government also had increased the sum allocated for emergency aid to $133 million, and that reconstruction would cost several billion euros.

On yet another day punctuated by aftershocks, a particularly sharply felt tremor rocked the quake-stricken area at 9:38 p.m. The shaking lasted a minute and was felt in Rome some 70 miles away from L'Aquila.

An unoccupied four-story building, heavily damaged in Monday's quake, collapsed in L'Aquila's historic center, Carabinieri military police said.

Italy's National Geophysics Institute said the aftershock registered 4.9 on the Richter-scale.

The strong aftershocks rattled residents — nearly 18,000 of whom are living in tent camps around the stricken region. An additional 10,000 have been put up in seaside hotels, out of the quake zone, and the Italian railway provided heated sleeping cars at L'Aquila's main train station, where nearly 700 people spent the night.

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