Nation & World Glance
Railway police officer Sukhwinder Singh said Saturday morning that the death toll had risen to 60. Another 50 people have been injured and hospitalized.
The Press Trust of India news agency said two trains arrived from the opposite direction on separate tracks at the same time, giving little opportunity for people to escape. The casualties were caused by one of the trains, it quoted officials as saying.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was extremely saddened by the accident. “Have asked officials to provide immediate assistance that is required,” Modi said on Twitter.
Hackers breach HealthCare. gov system, get data on 75,000
WASHINGTON — Officials say a government computer system that interacts with HealthCare.gov was hacked earlier this month, compromising the sensitive personal data of some 75,000 people. The breached system was shut down and technicians are working to restore it before sign-up season starts Nov. 1.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made the announcement late Friday afternoon, a time slot agencies often use to release unfavorable developments.
Officials said the hacked system is used by insurance agents and brokers to directly enroll customers for subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. All other sign-up systems are working.
Law enforcement has been alerted, and affected customers will be notified.
About 10 million people currently have private coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law, which President Donald Trump failed to repeal.
Afghanistan postpones election in Kandahar after attack
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s election commission on Friday postponed elections in Kandahar for a week, following a brazen attack on a high-profile security meeting there with a U.S. delegation that killed at least two senior provincial officials, including the province’s police chief.
The development came as mourners gathered for the funeral of police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq, assassinated in Thursday’s attack. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the assault, saying they targeted the top U.S. commander in the country, Gen. Scott Miller, who was at the meeting but was unharmed.
The Independent Election Commission’s deputy spokesman Aziz Ibrahimi said the postponement was meant to allow mourners to observe funeral rites for the slain officials.
Also killed in Thursday’s attack was the Kandahar intelligence chief, Abdul Mohmin, but the condition of the province’s governor, Zalmay Wesa, who was wounded, has been shrouded in mystery since the assault. Some reports say Wesa has been transferred to a NATO hospital outside Kandahar.
The Kandahar meeting, convened to discuss security plans for Saturday’s parliamentary elections, had just concluded when an elite Afghan guard turned his gun on the departing delegation.
Two Afghan policemen were also killed and three were wounded in the attack, according to a Kandahar hospital official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to reporters.