ASEAN SUMMIT: Leaders of Southeast Asian nations held a third day of meetings in
Thailand Sunday to discuss economic cooperation, disaster management
and climate change.
The summit grouping the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New
Zealand has been dominated by discussions on greater unity. Those 16
countries represent nearly half of the world's population.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said there was support for his
proposal to create a European Union-style trading bloc.
IRAQ: Iraqi police say two powerful car bomb blasts in central Baghdad have killed at least 65 people and wounded more than 150 others, in the bloodiest attack in months. Iraqi state television says the blasts Sunday were aimed at a provincial government building and the Ministry of Justice. The blasts shook buildings in the Iraqi capital, and smoke from the twin explosions billowed into the sky. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Violence in Iraq has dropped significantly in the past year, but insurgents continue to stage sporadic attacks on Iraqi security forces and civilians.
AFGHANISTAN: NATO says Afghan and international security forces conducted operations
Sunday in eastern and southern Afghanistan that resulted in several
militants killed.
The joint forces killed several militants in Ghazni province during a clash while searching for a Taliban commander.
In Wardak province, the joint security force detained two suspected
militants after searching a compound known to be used by a Taliban
commander.
Separately, angry demonstrators burned an effigy of U.S. President
Barack Obama, protesting allegations that Western troops had set fire
to a copy of the Koran.
PAKISTAN: Pakistani officials say a suicide bomber has blown himself up at a toll booth east of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, killing a police officer. Authorities say the bomber blew himself up when police, acting on a tip, stopped his car for a search. Police say two people had been traveling in the car, but one left the vehicle before the suicide bomber detonated. Police officials say the man who walked away from the car was arrested. Militants have been attacking police and other targets in Pakistani towns and cities while the army battles Taliban fighters in their stronghold near the Afghan border.
IRAN NUCLEAR: United Nations nuclear inspectors are beginning a three-day visit to
examine one of Iran's controversial uranium enrichment sites.
The team, from the International Atomic Energy Agency, was scheduled to tour the nuclear facility in Qom on Sunday.
Iran only recently acknowledged it had been building the enrichment
plant. Iran's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, says Iran is allowing
U.N. inspectors to visit the facility to prove the country's "good
will" and to reassure the world community of its "peaceful nuclear
activities."
ISRAEL - PALESTINIANS: Israeli police entered Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Sunday after Palestinians threw rocks at visitors in the Old City. A police spokesman says 12 demonstrators were arrested. Authorities says Palestinian protesters spilled oil on the ground to make police slip and fall. Security forces used stun grenades to stop the protests. The site, known to Muslims as TheNoble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, has been the center of clashes in recent weeks.
EGYPT - TRAIN CRASH: Egypt's health ministry says 18 people were killed, and 39 others
injured when a passenger train crashed into the back of a stopped train
Saturday in Giza, south of the capital Cairo.
Earlier authorities had said that 25 people were killed and 55 injured in the crash.
About 12 injured people have left the hospital.
The moving train was headed from Cairo to the southern city of Assuit,
while the stopped train was on its way to Fayoum. The stopped train hit
a cow.
US SWINE FLU: U.S. President Barack Obama has declared the spreading H1N1 swine flu virus to be a national emergency. Mr. Obama has signed a proclamation that gives U.S. hospitals flexibility if they need to handle large numbers of flu patients. The proclamation lifts some federal regulations, allowing hospitals to provide care in off-site facilities. The president said "a rapid increase in illness . . . may overburden health care resources." U.S. officials say more than 1,000 Americans have died from the flu since the H1N1 outbreak began earlier this year, with 20,000 needing hospital care.
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