The response to last week's bomb attack underscored that the 275-member body is stymied by partisan divides that undermine hopes for political progress.
At least 33 people were killed today on the campus of Virginia Tech in what appears to be the deadliest shooting rampage in American history, according to federal law-enforcement officials.
Moktada al-Sadr?s followers said that they were withdrawing because the government had refused to set a timetable for pulling American troops out of Iraq.
It has been more than a decade of progress for the National Rifle Association and other proponents of looser gun regulations, who saw their opposition wither in the face of sweeping Democratic losses in 1994 and the loss of the White House in 2000. But when interviewed last year about the decline of the issue's prominence, advocates on both sides suggested that an especially violent event–like the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech–could cause a reversal of fortunes.
AP - A gunman opened fire in a Virginia Tech dorm and then, two hours later, shot up a classroom building across campus Monday, killing 32 people in the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. The gunman committed suicide, bringing the death toll to 33.
AP - A menacing spring storm punished the Northeast for a second straight day Monday, dumping more than 8 inches of rain on Central Park and sending refrigerators and pickup trucks floating down rivers in one of the region's worst storms in recent memory.
AP - Cabinet ministers loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr quit the government Monday, severing the powerful Shiite religious leader from the U.S.-backed prime minister and raising fears al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia might again confront American troops.
Lone gunman slaughtered 32, self at Virginia TechShootings were in two areas and two hours apartUniversity president: Incomprehensible, heinous actIt is the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history