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International

Cuba debuts modern Chinese train

as rail overhaul begins

HAVANA (AP) — The first train using new equipment from China pulled out of Havana Saturday, hauling excited passengers on the start of a 915-kilometer (516-mile) journey to the eastern end of the island as the government tries to overhaul the country’s aging and decrepit rail system.

The 14 gleaming Chinese cars and a locomotive departed the city’s central train station and wended their way through nine cities before ending in Guantanamo 15 hours later. It has four air-conditioned wagons and a rolling restaurant car. Previously the trip could take days because of equipment breakdowns and track erosion.

It marks a first step of an overhaul Cuba’s communist government started early last year, repairing some 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) of aging tracks and dozens of tumble-down stations scattered around the island.

“It’s a blessing from God because we had to take this trip and private cars are very expensive, but we got a very good low fare and we are proud to be taking this train,” said 69-year-old passenger Virginia Pardo.

Islamic extremist attack on

Somali hotel leaves 26 dead

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Islamic extremists blew up the gate of a Somali hotel with a car bomb and took over the building for more than 14 hours, leaving 26 people dead before Somali forces who besieged the hotel overnight killed the attackers. The victims included a prominent Canadian-Somali journalist .

Three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans and a Briton also were among the dead, said Ahmed Madobe, the president of Jubbaland regional state which controls Kismayo. Fifty-six people, including two Chinese, were injured in the hotel attack, he told reporters.

At least four al-Shabab assailants attacked the Asasey Hotel Friday evening, beginning with a suicide car bomb at the entrance gate and followed by an assault by gunmen who stormed the hotel, which is frequented by politicians, patrons and lawmakers.

The attack lasted more than 14 hours before troops shot dead all attackers inside the hotel compound, Col. Abdiqadir Nur, a local police officer, told The Associated Press.

Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaida, often uses car bombs to infiltrate heavily fortified targets like the hotel in Kismayo, which has been relatively quiet in recent years.

The attack is a blow to the Somalia government’s efforts to hold nation-wide, one-person one-vote elections next year.

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