NEWS BRIEFING
After big Somali blast, masses unite and bomb details emerge
Two people have been arrested in the truck bombing that was meant to target Mogadishu’s heavily fortified international airport, where several countries have their embassies, the officials said.
Instead, the truck driver detonated the bomb, weighing up to 1,700 pounds, on a busy street.
Somalia’s president urged the long-fractured Horn of Africa nation to unite, and Mayor Thabit Abdi said the city was “awash in graves.”
Wearing red headbands, a crowd of mostly young men and women gathered at a Mogadishu stadium and shouted slogans against al-Shabab, which has long targeted the seaside city but has not commented on the attack.
Some in Somalia have called the bombing their “9/11,” asking why one of the world’s deadliest attacks in years hasn’t drawn more global attention. Nearly 400 others were wounded.
“You can kill us, but not our spirit and desire for peace,” said high school teacher Zainab Muse. “May Allah punish those who massacred our people,” said university student Mohamed Salad.
At least three people, including a pregnant woman, were injured after security forces opened fire while trying to disperse protesters marching toward the attack site, police said.
Analysts have suggested that al-Shabab, an al-Qaida ally, may have avoided taking responsibility because it did not want to be blamed for the deaths of so many civilians.
Judge: Utah man to be tried on murder charge in girl’s suicide
Judge James Brady called the case unusual but said Tyerell Przybycien, 18, should be tried on allegations that he was involved in 16-year-old Jchandra Brown’s suicide planning.
The judge on Tuesday noted that police found a receipt showing Przybycien bought the rope she used and tied a knot in it for her. Przybycien also told her at times that he would also kill himself.
His lawyers have said the girl made her own choice — pointing to two suicide notes.
Przybycien is charged with murder in the May 5 death. A jury could also be asked to consider a lesser charge, such as manslaughter.
Firms may keep tax break lost by millions under GOP effort
The Republican proposal would eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes, a widely popular break used by some 44 million Americans, especially in high-tax, Democratic-leaning states like California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York. But corporations, which pay billions in local property levies and state income taxes, wouldn’t be affected.
President Donald Trump and the GOP cast the plan as a boon to the middle class.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, in my opinion,” Trump said with members of the Senate Finance Committee.
President to meet governor
of Puerto Rico at White House
The meeting comes after Trump received some criticism for his response to Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Rosello has been supportive of Trump, while the mayor of San Juan has been outspoken in her criticism.
Much of the island remains without electricity.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Sanders said the administration will continue to work with local leaders in all areas of the country that have been affected by recent natural disasters. Trump visited Puerto Rico this month.
Kenyan election official resigns days before vote
Roselyn Akombe, one of just seven election commissioners, said the upcoming elections had no chance of being credible and fair and it had become “increasingly difficult” for her to perform her duties at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
The move is the latest blow to Kenya’s 20 year-old democratic process, which has been reeling under accusations of bias and wracked by angry demonstrations.
President Uhuru Kenyatta won re-election Aug. 8 with 54 percent of the vote over opposition candidate Raila Odinga, but the country’s Supreme Court annulled the results a month later citing irregularities.
Ex-captive says U.S. wife admitted to the hospital
Joshua Boyle said his wife, Caitlan, was admitted Monday and remained there Wednesday.
He did not specify why she was taken to the hospital.
“My wife has been through hell, and she has to be my first priority right now,” Boyle wrote.
The Boyles and their three children were rescued Oct. 11, five years after the couple was abducted in Afghanistan on a backpacking trip. The children were born while the family was being held by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.
Boyle said their three children are 4, 2 and “somewhere around 6 months.”