Bombs hit Syrian capital amid regime offensive
DAMASCUS, Syria – Twin suicide bombers targeted a police station in the center of Damascus Tuesday, killing 14 people as regime forces aggressively pressed ahead with an offensive on rebel strongholds elsewhere in the country. The rush-hour blasts, which caused extensive damage to cars and storefronts, demonstrated the ability of insurgents to strike deep in the heart of President Bashar Assad’s regime despite a series of recent setbacks on the battlefield.
The bombings, which occurred in central Marjeh Square near the Interior Ministry, were the first such attacks to target the capital since regime forces, backed by fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah group, chased rebels from the strategic town of Qusair nearly a week ago.
Russian lawmakers pass anti-gay bill in 436-0 vote
MOSCOW – A bill that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality won overwhelming approval Tuesday in Russia’s lower house of parliament.
Hours before the State Duma passed the Kremlin-backed law in a 436-0 vote with one abstention, more than two dozen protesters were attacked by hundreds of anti-gay activists, and then detained by police.
The bill banning the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” still needs to be passed by the upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, but neither step is in doubt.
The only parliament member to abstain Tuesday was Ilya Ponomaryov, who has supported anti-Putin protesters despite belonging to a pro-Kremlin party.
Taliban bomber in Kabul kills 17 at Supreme Court
KABUL, Afghanistan – A Taliban suicide bomber struck outside Afghanistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, killing 17 people in the deadliest attack in Kabul in more than a year and a half.
It was also the second consecutive day of attacks in the Afghan capital, undermining the ability of Afghan forces to keep security without help from NATO troops.
The attacker rammed his SUV into buses carrying court employees at the end of the day’s work. All of the dead were civilians, including women and children, police said, and at least 39 people were wounded.
EU nations battle over air-traffic control plans
PARIS – A massive battle is taking place in the skies over Europe – and airplane passengers across the continent are feeling its effects.
A plan to simplify the European Union’s patchwork air traffic control system and open up more air-traffic duties to private enterprise has sparked strikes and job actions by controllers that began Tuesday in France and were to spread today to 10 other European nations.
Nearly two decades after the 27-nation EU began eliminating checks along its land borders, its airspace remains an issue.
Associated Press
