Car bomb kills 17 in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide car bombing near a U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan that once hosted CIA employees killed at least 17 civilians Sunday, local officials said, the latest insurgent attack after foreign forces ended their combat mission there.
The bombing hit a checkpoint manned by members of the Khost Provincial Force, an Afghan unit that guards Camp Chapman for the American forces there, said Youqib Khan, the deputy police chief in Khost province. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the bomber was trying to get onto the base or what led up to his attack, Khan said.
A local hospital received the bodies of at least 17 Afghan civilians, most women and children, said Dr. Hedayatullah Hamedi, the province’s health director. He said the blast wounded six civilians, two of whom were in critical condition Sunday night, and that the death toll could rise.
U.S.-Iran reportedly close on nuclear deal
VIENNA – Negotiators are on the threshold of finalizing a historic nuclear deal with Iran, diplomats said Sunday as they tried to reach consensus on a few outstanding issues that have caused the talks to drag on past one deadline after another.
Diplomats from several of the six countries negotiating with Iran said they could announce a deal as early as Monday. They cautioned that last-minute obstacles could get in the way, though virtually everyone involved has been showing signs of fatigue.
But political figures in the Middle East, Europe and Washington appeared to be preparing for an agreement that restricts Iran’s nuclear program for more than a decade, lifts international sanctions that have battered its economy and potentially alters the way Iran interacts with the rest of the world.
Manhunt on for escaped drug lord
MEXICO CITY – Mexico mounted an all-out manhunt Sunday for its most powerful drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who escaped from a maximum security prison through a 1-mile tunnel from a small opening in the shower area of his cell, according to the country’s top security official.
The elaborate underground escape route, built allegedly without the detection of authorities, allowed Guzman to do what Mexican officials promised would never happen after his re-capture last year – slip out of one of the country’s most secure penitentiaries for the second time.
“This represents, without a doubt, an affront to the Mexican state,” said President Enrique Peña Nieto, speaking during a previously scheduled trip to France.
Jewish group honors Christian Poles
WARSAW, Poland – Jewish officials honored nearly 50 elderly Christian Poles who saved Jews during World War II, praising them as heroes during an event in Warsaw on Sunday organized as an expression of gratitude.
The oldest rescuer was 100 and others were in their 80s and 90s, some in wheelchairs or on crutches. They gathered for a luncheon at a luxury hotel in the city center where Poland’s chief rabbi, an Israeli diplomat and a representative of the U.S.-based Jewish Foundation for the Righteous paid tribute to them.
“You represent the very best in Polish society. You are heroes,” Stanlee Stahl, the foundation’s executive vice president, said as she stood before them. “It is so important to acknowledge the courage and heroism of the righteous, for each of you saved the honor of humanity.”
Poland was the only country under Nazi occupation where non-Jews caught helping Jews and their entire families were punished with death. Once home to Europe’s largest Jewish population, about 3.3 million before the war, Poland also has the largest number of non-Jews recognized as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.
Associated Press, Washington Post
