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Death toll from Pakistan bombings rises to 120, marking deadliest day in years
• QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- The death toll from a series of deadly bombings across Pakistan rose Friday to 120, police said, marking one of the deadliest days the country has seen in years.
• Five people who were wounded in twin bombings on a billiards hall late Thursday died of their wounds overnight, senior police official Hamid Shakeel from the southern city of Quetta said, putting the death toll from that attack at 86.
• The strike was the worst of three deadly bombings targeting Shiites and soldiers in Quetta, capital of the volatile Baluchistan province, and worshippers at a Sunni mosque in the northwest on the same day. Funerals are expected later Friday.
• The billiards hall bombing, in a Shiite area of the city, started with a suicide attack but was followed by a car bomb minutes later in the same area. Militants often use such staggered bombings as a way to maximize the body count by targeting rescuers and others who rush to the scene after the first explosion to help.
• Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslims have increasingly been targeted by radical Sunnis who consider them heretics. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group with strong ties to the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. Hazara Shiites, who migrated from Afghanistan more than a century ago, have been the targets of dozens of attacks by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Quetta over the past year, but Thursday's attack was by far the bloodiest.
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Defense: Colorado theater shooting suspect not ready for arraignment
• CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) -- A judge has ordered the Colorado theater shooting suspect to stand trial, but his attorneys say they're not ready to enter a plea.
• District Judge William Sylvester ruled Thursday night that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to proceed with charges alleging James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a suburban Denver movie theater July 20.
• Holmes is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder.
• The next major step is for Holmes to enter a plea during an arraignment hearing. Sylvester scheduled the arraignment for Friday but noted that defense lawyers will likely ask for a delay.
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