Pete Buttigieg, the kid from South Bend aiming for the White House
AFP, Washington
Pete Buttigieg likes to remind people that a year ago, all he had when he launched his presidential campaign were four staff, a big idea and an unknown – and unpronounceable – last name.
“There were skeptics, an awful lot of skeptics,” he said after the first round of caucuses in Iowa, where he beat Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by a hair.
At least five dead in suicide attack
AFP, Kabul
A suicide attack rocked the Afghan capital Kabul early Tuesday killing at least five people, officials said, in what was the first major assault in the city in months. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes after nearly three months of relative calm in the capital.
“This morning at around 7 am, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives… killing five people including two civilians and three military personnel.
Ultra-rare snowfall carpets Baghdad
AFP, Baghdad
Residents of Baghdad rushed to have snowball fights or take photographs Tuesday as the Iraqi capital woke carpeted in white by only its second snowfall in a century.
The last recorded snowfall in the city was in 2008, but it was a quick and mostly slushy affair – and prior to that, it had been a century since Baghdad saw any flakes. Iraqis young and old said it was the first time they had ever seen snow falling in Baghdad.
Deluge in Australia drenches fires and eases 3-year drought
AP, Wellington
Drought, wildfires and now flooding have given Australia’s weather an almost Biblical feel this year. The good news is that a recent deluge in eastern parts of the country has drenched deadly fires and helped ease a crippling drought.
But experts say it will take some time yet to know to what extent the rainfall has replenished dried-up rivers and quenched parched soil in some inland areas most affected by the 3-year drought.
