Daily Archives: May 27, 2014

Suicide bombing at Baghdad mosque kills 20

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A suicide bombing rocked a Shia mosque in the central part of Iraq’s capital Tuesday, killing at least 20 people and injuring 43 others, a Baghdad police source said.

The bomber entered the Shiite mosque in the Shorja market in downtown Baghdad as worshippers were heading inside to attend noon prayers, a police officer said.

Also in Baghdad, a bomb went off in an outdoor vegetable market in the eastern Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, killing two civilians and wounding five others, police said. And two policemen were killed and six other people wounded when a bomb hit a police patrol in the southern Dora district, another police officer said.

Three medical official confirmed causality figures.

Last year was the deadliest in Iraq since 2008, with more than 8,800 people killed, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations.

He’s all right! Paul McCartney leaves Japan after recovering from serious virus that left him in hospital

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Former Beatle Paul McCartney has left Japan after recovering from a viral infection that forced him to pull out of his Asian concert tour.

The 71-year-old left on a charter flight on Monday with Japanese media reporting he had headed for London.

McCartney was hit by the mystery bug on May 16 – just one day after he landed in Japan ahead of his Out There tour.

He called off the sold-out Japan tour, much to the disappointment of fans – some of whom had paid 100,000 yen ($980) to see him.

McCartney was also scheduled to perform at a Seoul stadium on May 28. It would have been his first concert in South Korea.

Today the concert organisers said in a statement: ‘Paul McCartney himself hopes to return to Japan for more concerts as soon as possible.’
His wife Nancy Shevell, 53, was by his bedside.

Paul is due to begin a U.S. tour on 14 June, which will consist of 18 concerts, leading to a gig at Candlestick Park stadium, the site of the Beatles’ last public show in 1966.

 

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6 chemical weapons inspectors reported kidnapped in Syria now safe

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A group of chemical weapons inspectors who were reported kidnapped in Syria Tuesday are safe and were returning to their operating base, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in a statement.

Earlier Tuesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said six chemical weapons inspectors and five Syrian drivers had been kidnapped in Hama province. The inspectors were investigating claims that the Syrian regime used chlorine gas on the rebel-held village of Kafr Zita in April.

 

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Train derails in northern India, killing at least 9 people

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At least nine people were killed and 82 others were injured when a train derailed Monday in northern India, a railway spokesman told CNN.

Preliminary reports indicate that six cars of the Gorakhdam Express passenger train collided with a stationary cargo train, northeastern railway spokesman Alok Singh said.

Emergency crews were at the scene, working to pull more passengers out. It was unclear how many people were trapped inside.

Incoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences and spoke with India’s Cabinet secretary, he said in a post on Twitter.

 

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China to Take 6 Million Older Vehicles off Roads

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China’s government plans to take 6 million older, polluting vehicles off the road this year in an effort to revive stalled progress toward cleaning up smog-choked cities.

The plan also calls for filling stations in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities to switch to selling only the cleanest grades of gasoline and diesel, according to a Cabinet statement issued Monday.

The order comes after China failed to meet official pollution-reduction goals for 2011-2013, the statement said. It said vehicles registered before 2005 that fail to meet cleaner emissions standards will be “phased out,” though it did not say how.

It called the country’s environmental situation “extremely grim.”

China’s major cities are smothered in eye-searing smog. The country has some of the world’s strictest emissions standards, but authorities have refrained from enforcing them until now to avoid forcing older, pollution-belching trucks off the road and hurting small businesses.

China has about 240 million vehicles on the road, and half are passenger cars, according to the Ministry of Public Security.