News Watch

On the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, a bus carrying Royal Caribbean International cruise ship passengers on an excursion overturned on Dec. 19 in Quintana Roo, killing 12 people, including eight Americans, and injuring 18 others. The bus was traveling to the Mayan ruins of Chaccobén at the time of the crash, the cause of which was still being investigated at press time.

As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 40 destinations: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Jordan, Kenya, North Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey,...

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A magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck a region of Iran near the border with Iraq on Nov. 13, killing more than 540 people, at least 530 in Iran alone, and injuring more than 8,000 others. It is estimated that more than 80,000 people were left without homes, with temperatures in the region dropping below freezing after the quake. More than 200 aftershocks occurred in the days following the quake. 

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In the northern-Sinai town of Bir al-Abed, terrorists posing as Egyptian military attacked a mosque with bombs and guns on Nov. 24, killing more than 300 people and injuring at least 100 others. It was the deadliest single attack in Egypt in decades. The attackers also created roadblocks with burning cars and fired on ambulances making their way to the scene. It is believed that at least 30 attackers were involved in the incident. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the...

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Typhoon Damrey made landfall in Vietnam on Nov. 4, killing at least 106 people — with many still missing as of press time and assumed dead — and destroying at least 116,000 homes. Flooding occurred throughout the country, including in Da Nang, which was hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that week.

One weather station recorded 67 inches of rain falling during the week that the typhoon was active over the country. 

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A suicide bomber struck a mosque full of worshipers in the town of Aubi, within the state of Adamawa in northeastern Nigeria, on Nov. 21, killing at least 50 people. As of press time, no group had claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities believed that the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has been involved in an insurgency in Nigeria for eight years, was responsible. 

Boko Haram suicide bombers have targeted sites in the area in the past. Since 2011, more...

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A car bomb exploded in a market in the town of Tuz Khurmatu in northern Iraq on Nov. 21, killing at least 23 people and injuring 60 others. No group took responsibility for the attack, but Daesh (ISIL) was suspected.

Tuz Khurmatu was recently recovered from Kurdish control by the Iraqi Army. It had been controlled by Iraqi Kurdistan forces since they defeated Daesh in the region in 2014.

Rebels in the Ukrainian region of Luhansk attacked Ukrainian soldiers with mortars and rifles on Nov. 24, killing five soldiers. Ukraine claims to have killed eight rebels in a counterattack. 

Much of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, both in eastern Ukraine, is controlled by pro-Russian rebels, who have been engaged in a war for independence since April 2014. A cease-fire is in place, but both sides have accused the other of breaking the agreement in multiple instances. The UN...

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