SENATE BLOCKS SYRIA REFUGEE CRACKDOWN

washington» Senate Democrats have blocked a House-passed bill that would crack down on Syrian and Iraqi refugees coming to the U.S.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says Republicans refused to allow Democrats to offer amendments to the bill. One of those could have put Republicans on the spot in an election year by forcing them to take sides for or against GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump has called for barring Muslims from coming to the U.S.

The Senate fell short of the three-fifths needed to move ahead. The vote was 55-43.

The House legislation would require new FBI background checks and individual sign-offs from three high-ranking federal officials before any refugee from Syria or Iraq could come to the United States.

Car bomb kills seven

B kabul, afghanistan» A suicide car bomb attack close to the Russian Embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, has killed at least seven people and wounded about 25, an Afghan official said Wednesday.

The police chief for Kabul, Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi, said two women were among those killed.

The attack targeted a bus owned by Afghanistan’s biggest media organization, Moby Group. Moby owns the most popular television station, Tolo TV, and a production company called Kaboora.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack using a known Twitter account. The tweet said Tolo TV was the target.

Northeast ready for possible big storm B

washington» As people in the South and East readied themselves for a nor’easter that might bring heavy snowfall by week’s end, snow fell on much of Kentucky and Tennessee and contributed to at least one traffic-related death Wednesday.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center warns of heavy, “perhaps crippling” snow across the northern mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia, probably beginning Friday.

The District of Columbia was preparing for blizzard conditions and up to 2 feet of snow, Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday. The city has requested Humvees from the National Guard to reach isolated people and places if necessary.

School lunch compromise passes panel

B washington» School meals could become a bit tastier under legislation approved by a Senate committee.

The measure approved by a voice vote Wednesday is designed to help schools that say the Obama administration’s healthier meal rules are too restrictive.

Leaders of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee introduced the legislation Monday after agreeing to ease requirements for whole grains and delaying a deadline to cut sodium.

The rules set fat, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond. They require more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Schools have long been required to follow government nutrition rules if they accept federal reimbursements for free and reduced-price meals for low-income students, but the new standards are stricter.

The compromise signals a truce between first lady Michelle Obama and congressional Republicans who have been at odds over the rules for more than two years.

Spelling mistake gets boy in hot water B

london» Police have dropped an investigation of a 10year-old Muslim boy who mistakenly wrote that he lived in a “terrorist house” rather than a “terraced house” — a British term for row houses.

The boy’s school had notified authorities about his statement because of a law requiring schools to report any possible links to extremism.

Lancashire Police said in a statement Wednesday that a police officer and a social worker visited the boy at his home in Accrington