Bombing in Pakistan kills at least four
LAHORE, Pakistan – Police say a bomb has exploded at a busy market street in eastern Pakistan, killing at least four people and wounding 40.
Police officer Maroof Wahla says Saturday’s attack took place near the popular Anarkali bazar in the eastern city of Lahore.
He says there were hundreds of people in the street at the time of the attack. The wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, where some of the victims were listed in critical condition.
Lahore is the capital of eastern Punjab province. It is also the home city of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan has had scores of bomb attacks in recent years, most of them blamed on militants.
There was no claim of responsibility for Saturday’s attack and police said they are still investigating.
Snowden’s fate unclear despite asylum offers
MOSCOW – Edward Snowden has found supporters in Latin America, including three countries that have offered him asylum. But many obstacles stand in the way of the fugitive NSA leaker from leaving a Russian airport – chief among them the power and influence of the United States.
Because Snowden’s U.S. passport has been revoked, the logistics of him departing are complicated. Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia have made asylum offers during the last two days, but the three countries haven’t indicated they would help Snowden by issuing a travel document, which he would need to leave Russia.
The former NSA systems analyst, who is charged with violating U.S. espionage laws, is believed to be stuck in the transit area of Moscow’s main international airport after arriving June 23 from Hong Kong.
Russia doesn’t appear willing to help him leave the airport, with Kremlin spokesman Alexei Pavlov saying Saturday the issue of Snowden’s travel documents is “not our business.”
35K march in Dublin against abortion bill
DUBLIN – More than 35,000 anti-abortion activists have marched through Dublin to oppose Irish government plans to enact a bill legalizing terminations for women in life-threatening pregnancies.
Saturday’s demonstration was by far the biggest in a series of protests against the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, which is expected to be passed into law next week.
Ireland officially bans abortion. But the Supreme Court in 1992 ruled that the Irish constitution equally defends the pregnant woman’s right to life, therefore life-saving abortions were legal.
Fans kill and quarter football referee in Brazil
SÃO PAULO – Police say enraged spectators invaded a football field, stoned the referee to death and quartered his body after he stabbed a player to death.
The Public Safety Department of the state of Maranhao says in a statement that it all started when referee Otavio da Silva expelled player Josenir Abreu from a game last weekend. The two got into a fistfight, then Silva took out a knife and stabbed Abreu, who died on his way to the hospital.
The statement issued this week says Abreu’s friends and relatives immediately “rushed into the field, stoned the referee to death and quartered his body.”
Local news media say the spectators also decapitated Silva and stuck his head on a stake in the middle of the field.
Police have arrested one suspect.
1 dead after oil train derails in Quebec
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec – Provincial police say one person has died after a train carrying crude oil derailed, triggering several explosions and a huge blaze in a town in eastern Quebec.
Police Lieutenant Michel Brunet would not say how many people might be missing after the 73-car train derailed early Saturday in the town of Lac-Megantic, about 155 miles east of Montreal.
Officials say the explosions and fire destroyed a large part of the town’s downtown area. Up to 1,000 people were forced from their homes in the town.
Witnesses say the eruptions sent many local residents scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky.
Associated Press
