NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Deadly mudslides: Mudslides and torrential flooding killed at least 250 people in and around Sierra Leone’s capital early Monday after heavy rains, with many victims trapped in homes buried under tons of mud. Survivors and volunteers dug through the mud and debris at times with their bare hands in a desperate search for missing relatives, and military personnel were deployed to help with the rescue operation in the West African nation. Initial Red Cross estimates said as many as 3,000 people have been left homeless by the disaster, and the figure is expected to rise. Communications and electricity also have been affected. The mortuary at Connaught Hospital was overwhelmed by the number of dead. At least 250 bodies had been brought to the facility already, and that toll did not include the untold numbers buried alive in their homes as they slept. More bodies also were expected to be found as floodwaters receded.
2 Peacekeepers attacked: Unidentified gunmen attacked the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the northern Mali city of Timbuktu on Monday, killing seven people and injuring seven others in what the U.N. peacekeeping chief called a “terrorist attack.” Earlier Monday, gunmen attacked two neighboring U.N. camps in Douentza in the Mopti region of central Mali, killing a Malian soldier and a U.N. peacekeeper and lightly wounding another peacekeeper. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, also called that incident a “terrorist attack.” The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali is the deadliest of the U.N.’s 16 global peacekeeping operations, and this was one of the worst losses of mission employees. In the Timbuktu attack, the mission said five Malian security guards and a Malian contractor working for the mission were killed along with a member of the Malian gendarmerie. It said six U.N. peacekeepers were wounded.
3 Troops killed: Police in Pakistan say a roadside bomb has killed six paramilitary troops and wounded another two. Police officer Naeem Gul Tareen said the bomb exploded Monday when a Frontier Corps patrol was passing by in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. No one immediately claimed the attack. The province is home to a low-level insurgency by ethnic Baluch separatists, as well as Islamic militants.
4 Car attack: A man who may have been trying to kill himself rammed his car into a pizzeria east of Paris on Monday, killing a 13-year-old girl and injuring her younger brother and at least 11 others, authorities said. The driver was immediately arrested. Police said the man’s actions in the town of Sept-Sorts were deliberate, but not thought to be terrorismrelated. The 13-year-old girl and her brother were among the restaurant patrons eating on the outdoor terrace of Pizzeria Cesena when a man in a BMW accelerated toward them, an official with the national gendarme service said. The girl died immediately, while the boy’s injuries are considered life-threatening. 5 Big Ben’s bells: The bongs will soon be gone. Big Ben — the huge clock bell of Britain’s Parliament — will fall silent next week as a four-year restoration project gets under way. The bongs of London’s iconic bell will be stopped after chiming noon on Aug. 21 to protect workers during a $38 million repair project on the Queen Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben and its clock. It isn’t due to resume regular service until 2021. Big Ben has been stopped several times since it first sounded in 1859, but the current restoration project will mark its longest period of silence.