MOODYSHEGSBLOG

Baghdad: A series of car bombings and other attacks across Baghdad on Wednesday killed 86 people and wounded 263, police and medical sources said, extending the worst wave of sectarian bloodshed in Iraq for at least five years. It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks, which appeared coordinated, but Sunni Muslim insurgents including the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq have significantly stepped up bombings this year. More than two years of civil war in neighbouring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions in Iraq, fraying the country's uneasy coalition of Shi'ite Muslim, Sunni Muslim and Kurdish factions. In Sadr City, an impoverished Shi'ite district in Baghdad's northeast, two car bombs killed seven people. A restaurant owner said he saw an attacker just before one of the explosions. "A man parked his car in front of the restaurant. He got breakfast and drank his tea. (Then) I heard a huge explo...

Western powers could attack Syria within days, envoys from the United States and its allies have told rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad , Reuters news agency reported Tuesday. The United States, U.K. and France raised their rhetoric on Tuesday, repeating their vow to respond to a chemical weapon attack in Syria. Syria blames opposition “terrorists” for the attack. A United Nations team visited the site of the attack on Monday and investigations are ongoing. The U.S. said on Tuesday that there must be a response to the attack, and French president, Francois Holande, said his country was ready to punish those responsible for the use of chemical weapons. The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, recalled the parliament from vacation to discuss adequate response. But public opinion remained largely divided about the planned military action with many Americans, as British expressing their doubt the Syrian government would use che...

Former Heavyweight Boxing champion Mike Tyson has claimed he is on the verge of dying from ongoing drug and alcohol problems. “I wanna live my sober life. I don’t wanna die. I’m on the verge of dying, because I’m a vicious alcoholic,’’ Tyson said on ESPN’s on Friday Night Fights. Tyson, now a promoter, told a news conference, “I’m a bad guy sometimes. I did a lot of bad things, and I want to be forgiven. “So in order for me to be forgiven, I hope they can forgive me. I wanna change my life, I wanna live a different life now,’’ the former champion said. Tyson admitted to being a continual substance abuser but was hopeful he was finally becoming clean. “I haven’t drank or taken drugs in six days and for me that’s a miracle,” he said. “I’ve been lying to everybody else that I think I was sober, but I’m not. This is my sixth day. I’m never gonna use...