Costa Concordia embarks on last trip
ROME -- The Costa Concordia began its final voyage toward the Italian port city of Genoa on Wednesday, 2 1/2 years after the cruise ship ran aground off a small Tuscan island in an accident that killed 32 people.
Sirens wailed shortly after 9 a.m., when the 54,000-ton ship began its slow rotation, assisted by tugboats. Hundreds of tourists and residents lined the port and shores of the island of Giglio to shoot photographs and videos of the hulking vessel.
The ship is expected to arrive Sunday in Genoa, where its furniture and equipment will be removed.
The cost of the ship's removal from the crash site has risen from an initial budget of $300 million to more than $1 billion. The ship was raised after workers spent months fitting 30 huge steel stabilizing containers, known as sponsons, that functioned as floats.
In Giglio, salvage workers will attempt to clean the seafloor at the crash site and replant the rare marine flora that once attracted recreational divers. The process is expected to last several months.
39 die in failed Nigerian assassinations
ABUJA, Nigeria -- Bomb blasts that appeared to target former Nigerian military ruler Muhammadu Buhari and a prominent moderate Muslim cleric killed dozens of people Wednesday but left both leaders unharmed, according to Nigerian state security.
At least 39 people were killed in the two blasts, said State Police Commissioner Umar Usman Shehu. Witnesses at both bomb sites said dozens of people were killed in each of the blasts.
"The unfortunate event, clearly an assassination attempt, came from a fast moving vehicle that made many attempts to overtake my security car," Buhari said in a statement. "I came out unhurt, but with three of my security staff sustaining minor injuries."
Buhari is a leader of Nigeria's leading opposition party.
The other bombing appeared to target Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, who gave an annual Ramadan speech to thousands of people in an outdoor service. Bauchi is known for preaching against the violent extremism of Nigeria's Islamic militant group, Boko Haram.
Shehu said a boy threw a bomb at the sheik as he was passing. The cleric survived the blast, but the boy was killed, said the police commissioner, who added that no arrests were made immediately.
Filipino town gets militants to free 4
MANILA, Philippines -- An impoverished town in the southern Philippines persuaded Abu Sayyaf militants to free three abducted aid workers after the government withheld anti-poverty funds from the town, officials said Wednesday.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the three aid workers and a companion were kidnapped July 17 in Talipao town in Sulu province, where they were working on anti-poverty projects.
Because of the kidnappings, the government withheld cash grants to thousands of poor families to ensure the safety of aid workers. Talipao officials then pressured the militants, who freed their hostages this week without any ransom payment, Soliman said.
A military official said armed relatives of one of the kidnapped workers threatened the family of an Abu Sayyaf militant, helping to ratchet up pressure on the kidnappers.
Typhoon weakens to storm, hits China
BEIJING -- The second typhoon to hit China in a week quickly weakened to a tropical storm as it reached the country's heavily populated southeastern provinces Wednesday after passing across Taiwan overnight.
Taiwan's weather agency said Typhoon Matmo had gusts of 67 miles per hour and was moving at 12 mph. The Fujian province's flood control headquarters said nearly 300,000 people were evacuated ahead of the storm.
Authorities in Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, had ordered fishing boats to return to port and stepped up patrols to watch for breaks in coastal and river embankments, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The typhoon injured five people and knocked out power to 31,505 homes on Taiwan, according to the island's Central News Agency.
On mainland China, rains of up to 12 inches were forecast in Shanghai and areas as far north as Jiangsu province, Xinhua said, citing the country's weather agency.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 07/24/2014