It is 15:30 Universal Time. I’m Mike Louis in Washington.
Diplomats and government officials say at least 150 people have been killed in a series of explosions in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. A series of powerful explosion early Sunday shook a (weapons supply center) along river in north Brazzaville. An official at the Chinese diplomatic office in Brazzaville said that at least four Chinese workers were killed and many Chinese were injured. The official said the workers were from the Beijing Construction Engineering Group in the Republic of Congo. The explosion sent (large amounts of) smoke into the air and broke windows across the Congo River in nearby Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was not immediately clear what caused those explosions.
Polish rescue workers have pulled another victim from the (wreckage) of a crash between two passenger trains. At least 16 people have been reported dead. Rescue teams worked through the night to find and save survivors and recover bodies. At least 56 of estimated (350) people on the trains were injured. Officials say the trains were traveling toward each other on the same track when they crashed in (southern Poland). One train was traveling to the capital, Warsaw. The other was traveling from Warsaw to the city of Krakow. Officials are investigating why one train was on the wrong track.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says aid workers in Syria have begun bringing (aid supplies) to refugees in the village of Abel. The people being (sheltered) are refugees from a months-long attack in the Homs area of Baba Amr. ICRC officials said Sunday that the operation would be extended to the Homs area of Inshaat later in the day. But ICRC officials and Syrian troops continue to (block) aid workers from Baba Amr itself for security reasons. An aid team has been waiting to enter the area to help (freezing), hungry and wounded civilians since Friday. That is when the Syrian government approved the aid operation. Syrian rebels taking part in the year-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad withdrew from Baba Amr on Thursday.
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