World/Nation Briefs August 27, 2011
<p>People at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York experience sunny weather while Hurricane Irene bears down on the eastern seaboard further south on Friday. The low number of visitors at the typically crowded beach reflects the wind, rain, and flooding dangers the storm poses to the already saturated New York state.</p>
Libya's capital largely calm
TRIPOLI - Tripoli on Friday enjoyed its calmest day since the rebel takeover nearly a week ago, and hundreds even celebrated with a march chanting: "Hold your head high! You are a free Libyan." The more relaxed atmosphere was one of the strongest signs yet that Moammar Gadhafi and his loyalists have largely been driven out of the capital.
As the fighting waned, the International Red Cross in Geneva expressed concern about treatment of detainees on both sides.
UN car bombing in Nigeria kills 18
ABUJA, Nigeria - A car loaded with explosives crashed into the main United Nations building in Nigeria's capital and exploded Friday, killing at least 18 people in one of the deadliest assaults on the international body in a decade. A radical Muslim sect blamed for a series of attacks in the country claimed responsibility for the bombing, a major escalation of its sectarian fight against Nigeria's weak central government.
The brazen assault represented the first suicide attack to target foreigners in oil-rich Nigeria, where people already live in fear of the radical Boko Haram sect. The group, which has reported links to al-Qaida, wants to implement a strict version of Shariah law in the nation and is vehemently opposed to Western education and culture.
- The Associated Press