Digest

Grasswire Digest: March 16

March 16, 2016
PawPrintAndrew
2 Min Read
A round-up of news from Grasswire and elsewhere.

On Grasswire

Pakistan

PeshbusAt least 15 people were killed with another 30 wounded when a bomb exploded on a bus Wednesday in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The bus was travelling on a congested road with over 50 government employees onboard when an improvised explosive device went off, according to police official Abbas Majeed Marwa.

Syria

Convention for establishing ‘Democratic Federal Syria’ starts in Rimêlan. Image: AHNA

A Kurdish political party is set to declare an autonomous federal system in the area of northern Syria known as Rojava, which is largely under Kurdish administration.

The announcement is expected Wednesday following a press conference in Rmeilan by the Movement for a Democratic Society, Tevgera Civaka Demokr atik (TEV-DEM), a political coalition governing the autonomous areas.

Health

CDC director Tom Frieden : Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

The U.S. federal government issued the first guidelines aimed at reducing prescription opiate abuse Tuesday.

“We know of no other medication routinely used for a nonfatal condition that kills patients so frequently,” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden. “We hope to see fewer deaths from opiates. That’s the bottom line. These are really dangerous medications that carry the risk of addiction and death.”

SCOTUS

Judge Merrick Garland of the United States Court of Appeals speaks between Vice President Joe Biden (L) and President Barack Obama (R) after Obama annnounced Garland as his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington March 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, filling the seat vacated by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death this month.

Garland is currently the chief justice for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Described as a moderate, he was a finalist for the presdient’s two previous Supreme Court appointments.

Elsewhere

In case you missed it

 

Four officers were injured after shots were fired during a Brussels police raid linked to the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s rail system shut down on Wednesday, allowing crews to inspect over 1,200 power cables throughout the system for safety problems.

Myanmar’s parliament elected its first civilian president in over 50 years Tuesday, ending decades of military rule.

A bomb was suspected to be the cause of an explosion that destroyed a car in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district Tuesday, killing the driver.

General interestingness

In lieu of text

A final thought …

 

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