IN JERUSALEM? 13 wounded in St Petersburg bomb blast

RECEP TAYYIP ER RDOGAN, President of Turkey to the Jewish Quarter just a few hundred metres from the Western Wall and al-Aqsa Mosque.

Yisrael Katz, who is responsible for both transport and intelligence, has built a can-do reputation for seeing through a wide range of infrastructure projects. He also has designs on the prime minister’s office.

Although he has been promoting the idea of a railroad stop in the Old City for over a year, he said on Wednesday that it was now a priority, calling it the “most important national project being advanced today at the Ministry of Transport”.

Katz said he planned to name it for Trump “for his courageous and historic decision” and his “contribution in the strengthening of the status of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people and the state of Israel”.

But, the plan, which would require digging beneath some of the most sensitive acreage on Earth, is sure to invite more international criticism and antagonise the Palestinians even more. NYT SAINT PETERSBURG: A homemade bomb blast at a supermarket here injured 13 people on Wednesday.

“According to preliminary information, an explosion of an unidentified object occurred in a store,” a spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, said.

The blast was caused by a “homemade explosive device with power equivalent to 200g of TNT (trinitrotoluene) filled with lethal fragments,” she said.

“The investigation is looking at all possible causes of what happened,” she said, adding that a probe for attempted murder had been launched.

An Emergencies Ministry representative said one of the injured was in serious condition.

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that it was an act of terrorism. He said the situation would be worse if thousands of Russian citizens who fought with Islamic State in Syria had been allowed to return home.

Putin said the security forces should take no chances with their own lives if confronted by terrorism suspects. He told them to shoot to kill if necessary.

FSB director Alexandra Bortnikov said about 4,500 Russian citizens had left to join terrorist groups.

Passerby Galina Gustova, 58, observed the scene with horror.

“How terrible! And, this happens as people are shopping ahead of the holidays. It’s a good thing nobody died,” she said.

The blast came ahead of New Year’s celebration and Russian Orthodox Christmas, which falls on Jan 7.

“I often buy groceries here, I wanted to go in but everything is blocked,” said Viktoria Smirnova, 20. Agencies