Bomb found in parking lot neutralized

The Spokane Bomb Squad neutralized a pipe bomb Saturday in the parking lot of a North Idaho club.

At about 7:30 p.m., an anonymous caller told the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department that a possible bomb was in a vehicle at Big Al’s in Stateline Village.

Deputies found a 2 inch by 18 inch pipe bomb in the cab of a truck in the parking lot.

The bomb squad came and neutralized the bomb.

The incident is under investigation.

Boy charged with starting fire in Liberty Park

Spokane police arrested an 11-year-old boy Saturday evening in a fire that burned a swath of Liberty Park in south Spokane.

The boy was booked on charges of reckless burning in the 500-square-foot fire, police said Sunday in a news release.

A woman reported that she had seen four boys at the 6 p.m. fire and followed them when they ran away. She then saw the boys in a back yard in the 1700 block of East First Avenue, police said.

Two of the boys, contacted through their mother, told police that another boy used a lighter to burn a pile of leaves, even though they asked him not to do so.

An anonymous call alerted the fire department to the blaze.

Hundreds protest Vietnamese leader’s Seattle visit

Seattle Phan Van Khai, the first Vietnamese prime minister to visit the United States in 30 years, called on Vietnamese emigres to help strengthen ties between the two countries as he launched a weeklong U.S. tour aimed at boosting relations with Washington.

His visit prompted protests by Vietnamese living in the United States, including loud heckling from a group of about 300 in Seattle who called for Khai to leave the country and carried signs likening him to Saddam Hussein.

Sunday’s visit came 30 years after U.S. forces pulled out of Vietnam and marked the 10th anniversary of efforts to normalize relations between the two countries. Khai, 71, was scheduled to meet Tuesday with President Bush at the White House. He also planned a meeting today at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond.