Rail laxity cited in fiery Quebec wreck
TORONTO -- The weak safety culture of a now-defunct railway company and poor government oversight were among many factors that led to an oil train explosion that killed 47 people in Quebec last year, Canada's Transportation Safety Board said in a new report released Tuesday.
Board Chairman Wendy Tadros said 18 factors played a role, including a rail company that cut corners and a Canadian regulator that didn't do proper safety audits.
The safety board issued its report 13 months after a runaway train carrying 72 carloads of volatile oil from North Dakota hurtled down an incline and slammed into downtown Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Several train cars exploded, and 40 buildings were leveled. The unattended train had been parked overnight on a rail line before it came loose.
Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railways went bankrupt after the disaster.
"We now know why the situation developed over time: A weak safety culture at MMA, poor training of employees, tank cars that didn't offer enough protection," Tadros said.
Afghans: Story illegal, reporter can't go
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's attorney general has barred a New York Times correspondent from leaving the country because of a story in which he reported Monday that a group of officials was considering seizing power because of an impasse over who won the recent presidential election, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Basir Azizi, a spokesman for the attorney general, said Matthew Rosenberg's story was "against the law and national interests of Afghanistan." Azizi said Rosenberg was asked to go to the attorney general's office Wednesday with his lawyer.
Afghanistan held presidential elections on April 6 to select a successor to Hamid Karzai. A runoff followed June 14 between former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. Both men claimed fraud in the vote, and the results are now being audited.
The New York Times' story said some officials with ties to the security forces were "threatening to seize power." The newspaper, in a later story on the attorney general's decision, said Rosenberg's article reported that powerful figures in the Afghan government "were discussing the formation of a temporary governing committee as a way to break the deadlock that followed national elections."
Saudi cleric calls extremism Islam's foe
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's top cleric said Tuesday that extremism and the ideologies of groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaida are Islam's No. 1 enemy and that Muslims have been their first victims.
Grand Mufti Sheik Abdul-Aziz Al-Sheik also said in his public statement that terrorism has no place in Islam and that the danger of extremists lies in their use of Islamic slogans to justify actions that divide people.
"These foreign groups do not belong to Islam and Muslims adhering to it," he said, adding that unity around the word and the rank of Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince are necessary to avoid the type of chaos seen elsewhere in the region.
King Abdullah has been pressing clerics to publicly condemn Islamic extremist groups since the government made it illegal for citizens to fight in conflicts abroad. Clerics who do not condemn terrorism in traditional Friday sermons could face penalties, such as having their licenses to preach revoked.
At least 6 dead in Hiroshima landslides
TOKYO -- At least six people were killed and 22 were missing after rain-sodden hills in the outskirts of Hiroshima gave way early today in several landslides.
Video footage from national broadcaster NHK showed suburban homes in the western Japanese city surrounded by streams of mud and debris. Rescue workers suspended by ropes from police helicopters were pulling victims from the rubble.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency, citing the local government, said six people were confirmed dead and another 22 were missing as of late morning. It said at least 20 people were injured, one seriously.
NHK, citing local police, put the death toll at 18.
"A few people were washed away, and it is hard to know exactly how many are unaccounted for," said local government official Nakatoshi Okamoto, noting that the conditions in the disaster area were hindering efforts to account for all those affected.
A Section on 08/20/2014