Nation & World Glance
Memorial held for woman killed in Southwest flight
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Family and friends gathered Sunday to mourn an Albuquerque bank executive who died after the Southwest Airlines plane she was on blew an engine in midair.
Nearly a thousand people attended the evening service for Jennifer Riordan, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The service was held at Popejoy Hall on the University of New Mexico campus, her alma mater.
“We appreciate the outpouring of support from the community. It truly touches our hearts,” the Riordan family wrote in a statement. “We know there are many in the community who want to celebrate Jennifer.”
The 43-year-old community leader and mother of two had been heading home from a business trip Tuesday on a flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport bound for Dallas.
Early in the flight as the plane was at 32,000 feet (9,754 meters), one of its twin engines suddenly exploded. The impact showered the jet with debris and shattered the window next to Riordan.
Syrian military pummels ISheld districts in Damascus
BEIRUT — Syrian government forces used warplanes, helicopters and artillery on Sunday to pound districts of the capital held by the Islamic State group, in a bid to enforce an evacuation deal reached with the militants earlier in the week.
Two Palestinian refugees, a father and a son, were killed during the fighting at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, according to the United Nation’s Palestinian refugee agency, which added that thousands of homes have been destroyed in four days of fighting.
Hundreds of IS militants hold parts of the Yarmouk camp and nearby area of Hajar al-Aswad in southern Damascus. They agreed to give up their last pocket there on Friday but have yet to begin surrendering to government forces and relocating to IS-held areas elsewhere in the country.
State-run al-Ikhbariya TV showed thick gray smoke billowing from the Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood on Sunday, and government warplanes streaking overhead amid heavy bombardment of the area.
Residents of Damascus reported hearing loud booms throughout the night and Sunday morning.
Islamic State suicide bomber kills 57 in Afghan capital
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Islamic State suicide bomber carried out an attack at a voter registration center in the capital Kabul on Sunday, killing 57 people and wounding more than 100 others, said officials from the Afghan interior and public health ministries.
Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Majro said that among 57 who were killed in the attack, 22 were women and eight are children. Majro added that 119 people were wounded in Sunday’s attack, among them 17 children and 52 women. “The tolls could still rise,” he added.
Gen. Daud Amin, the Kabul police chief, said the suicide bomber targeted civilians who were registering for national identification cards.
The large explosion echoed across the city, shattering windows miles away from the site and damaging several nearby vehicles.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying it had targeted Shiite “apostates.”
Twain apologizes for saying she would have voted Trump
NEW YORK — Shania Twain has apologized for saying if she were American she would have voted for Donald Trump for president, even though he’s offensive.
Twain made the comments in an interview with The Guardian that was published over the weekend. She told the British newspaper “Do you want straight or polite? I would have voted for a feeling that is transparent.”
After receiving backlash, Twain took to Twitter to explain herself.
The Canadian says she wasn’t prepared for the question and was trying to express how Trump had connected with a certain segment of the population.
Twain also says she’s against discrimination of any kind and hopes it’s clear from her public stances that she doesn’t share any moral beliefs with Trump.