40 die in Afghan bombing

Mazar-e-Sharif (Afghanistan), Oct. 26 (Reuters): A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people in a mosque in Afghanistan’s relatively peaceful north today as worshippers gathered for prayers marking the Id-ul Zoha holiday, police officials said.

The attack in Maimana, capital of Faryab province, also wounded 40, regional police chief Gen. Abdul Khaliq Aqsai said, pinning the blame on the Taliban.

“The suicide bomber detonated explosives when our countrymen were congratulating each other on the Id holiday,” said police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai.

Myanmar toll

Sittwe, Myanmar (Reuters): Authorities on Friday revised down to 64 the number of people killed in six days of unrest in western Myanmar, after security forces opened fire to break up violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

Killer storm

Nassau (Reuters): Slow-moving Hurricane Sandy, a late season Atlantic storm unlike anything seen in more than two decades, slogged toward the US East Coast on Friday after killing at least 34 people on a path of destruction across the Caribbean.

Syria toddler

Nicosia, Cyprus (AP): A two-year-old Syrian boy who was believed dead after his family inadvertently left him behind as they fled shelling in Damascus last summer has been reunited with his parents in Cyprus.

Katy ballot

Las Vegas (AP): At a rally for President Obama, US singer Katy Perry wore a tight white dress imprinted like a ballot, and a square box on her right hip filled in the names of Obama and Joe Biden.