October 2011 Archives

17 people diedn in a Taliban car bomb attack on a NATO convoy in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Staurday.

Not only nine Americans, but also several foreigners who worked for the International Security Assistance Force were killed in a sudice bombing, according to the CNN.

ISAF said that about 27 people died in clashes between NATO tropps and suspected insurgent troops in east of Kabul, according to the CNN.

Two British civilians, Canadian soldier and four Afghans, including two students were also killed, CNN reported.

Also, three australians were killed in the south of Afghanistan when Afghan army officer pointed his foreign collegues, the Guardian reported.

The Tliban claimed responsibility for the attack to foreign forces, especially Western forces, according to the Guardian.

The Olmsted County shefiff's dive team found a body near a Zumbro River bridge in Rochester during a team practice session on Sunday.

The Rochester Police Department said a woman's body was discovered on Sunday morning in the river, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The Police Departement told the St. Paul Pioneer that the death appeared to be very recent and a postmortem is planned to determine the reason of her death.

Authorities have identified the victim but they withheld her name, reported the Star Tribune.

Lana Sullivan who lives near the river told the Star Tribune that boday was floating face down about 7 feet to 8 feet from shore and the boday was removed 11 a.m. Sunday.

The sheriff's dive team denied any comments about the body, according to the St. Paul Pioneer.

Somali population in Minnesota increased from 27,000 to 32,000, compared to previous census data, according to the new census data released Thursday.

Minnesota's Somali population is the largest in the United States, compared with 12, 300 in Ohio, 9,300 in Washington and 7,500 in California, the Minnesota Daily reported.

The Minnesota Daily pointed out Somali immigration to the state has been the largest influx of emmigrants from sub-Saharan Africa in recent years.

However, the Star Tribune reported Minnesota's Somlai Community have been under federal investigations for recruiting and financing of al-shabab in Somalia.

Two women who are U.S. citizens of Somali descent, have been charged with conspiring to funnel money to al-Shabab, during the Minnesota investigations, according to the Star Tribune.

A heavy snow and winds brought power failure from Maryland north through Connecticut on Saturday.

About a million customers in the mid-Atlantic states suffered msot as the result of the unsual October snow storm, especially, almost 428,000 people lost their power Saturday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Los Angeles Times reported the 1.3 inches of snow that fallen at Central Park in New York made this month the snowiest October since 1869.

State governments of Maine, Massachusetts and New Jersey announced restoration of power outages would take several days, while it could be more than a week in Conneticut and New Hampshire, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Chicago Tribune reported Amtrak in strom areasand New Jersey Transit and Metro-North Railroad suspended service, while Aiports slowly returned to normal service.

Weather emergencies due to the snow storm were declared in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Congress approved free-trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama Wednesday.

The White House, Republicans and big business groups believe the deals would creat new jobs in the United States, according to the CNN.

However, some prominent labor unions and Democrats have opposed the free-trade deals and argued that increased import would lead to more layoffs in the United States, the Washington Post reported.

Especially, agreements would bring benefits to the U.S. agriculture industry by having new exporting markets for beef, wheat and soybeans, the CNN reported.

The Washington Post pointed out South Korea is one of major exporters of textile, steel and machined parts, and the agreement would increase imports, especially in the textile industry.

The United States has similar agreements with 17 other nations, according to the Washington Post.