The hope of democracy in Iraq

May 02, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Iraqis have lived through dictatorship, war, sanctions, invasion, and ongoing ethnic violence.

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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford will take an immediate leave of absence to seek help for alcohol abuse, he said, as a report surfaced about a second video of the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine. Ford also said he would take a leave from his campaign for reelection. One of his rivals in the Oct. 27 election called on the mayor to resign.

Malaysia Airlines on Thursday advised relatives of passengers who were aboard Flight 370 to move out of hotels and return home to wait for news on the search for the missing plane. Since the Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8, the airline has been putting the relatives up in hotels, where they’ve been briefed on the search. But the airline said in a statement Thursday that it would close its family assistance centers around the world by May 7.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded “decisive actions” against terrorism following an attack at a railway station in the far-west minority region of Xinjiang that left three people dead and 79 injured. The bloodshed came as Xi wrapped up a four-day visit to the area which has witnessed rising violence against civilians and authorities blamed on radical Islamists and separatists.

The latest in a string of fiery oil-train wrecks brought renewed demands Thursday that the Obama administration quickly tighten regulations governing the burgeoning practice of transporting highly combustible crude by rail. In the latest crash, a CSX train carrying Bakken crude from North Dakota derailed Wednesday in downtown Lynchburg, Va., sending three tanker cars into the James River and shooting flames and black smoke into the air. No one was injured, but the crash prompted an evacuation and angered local residents and officials.

An apparent gas explosion all but destroyed a jail in the Florida Panhandle, killing two inmates and injuring more than 180 people, and officials lost track of three inmates in the chaos, authorities said Thursday. The three inmates were always under authorities’ control, but went unaccounted for in the confusion as hundreds of inmates were bused to hospitals and others were taken to nearby jails because the crippled building had to be evacuated, Escambia County spokeswoman Kathleen Castro said.

Fifty-five US colleges and universities are being investigated over their handling of sexual abuse complaints, the Education Department revealed Thursday. The department’s release of the list is unprecedented and comes as the Obama administration seeks to shed greater light on the issue of sexual assault in higher education and how it is being handled. Going forward, the department said, it will keep an updated list of schools facing such investigations.

Syrian government aircraft struck a busy market Thursday in a rebel-held district of Aleppo, killing at least 33 people in the latest deadly attack targeting mainly civilians in the contested city, opposition activists said.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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