In brief: 21 die, 7 hurt in fire at Korean hospital
SEOUL, South Korea –Twenty-one people suffocated and seven people were injured today in a fire at a hospital in southern South Korea that specializes in patients suffering from dementia and palsy, officials said.
One patient at the Hyosarang Hospital in Jangseong county, an 81-year-old man suffering from dementia, was detained in an investigation after security video footage showed him entering an area where the blaze began, police said. Police declined to provide further details, saying the cause of the fire was still being investigated.
Jangseong Fire Department officials said 20 patients and one nurse were killed and that seven people were injured, adding that the victims suffocated.
Chemical weapons team attacked
DAMASCUS, Syria – A convoy of chemical weapons inspectors came under attack Tuesday while traveling to the site of a suspected chlorine gas attack in Syria, but all staff members were safe, the international watchdog agency said.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has been working with the United Nations to oversee the destruction of the Syrian government’s stockpiles since September 2013, when President Bashar Assad’s administration acknowledged it has chemical weapons and agreed to give them up to avoid the threat of U.S. military strikes.
Syria has since destroyed or handed over more than 90 percent of the weapons and toxic chemicals it has formally declared.
Chlorine is not banned under chemical weapons conventions, and it was not part of Syria’s disclosures. However, using any toxic material in warfare violates chemical weapons treaties and international law.
Americans urged to leave Libya
WASHINGTON – The State Department recommended Tuesday that Americans leave Libya immediately and warned U.S. citizens against any travel to the North African country.
The department also said that due to security concerns and limited staffing it was only able to offer limited emergency services to U.S. citizens there. There was no move yet to evacuate diplomats from the embassy.
The department said the security situation in Libya “remains unpredictable and unstable,” with crime levels high in many parts of the country. It added that various groups also have called for attacks against U.S. citizens and U.S. interests in Libya.
Scores killed in Nigerian attacks
LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigerian officials say that 54 people were killed in two attacks in northern Nigeria suspected to be by Islamic extremists.
Police constable Abdullahi Mohammed said Tuesday that suspected Boko Haram members killed 24 soldiers and 21 policemen in an attack Monday evening on Buni Yadi town in Yobe state.
And in Borno state, local government official Nglamuda Ibrahim said gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram killed nine people in two remote villages, also on Monday night.
Ibrahim said that in Ashigashiya town the armed men shot at villagers, burned their homes and held control over the area and hoisted their white flags with Arabic letters.