World/Nation
• Suicide bomber attacks in Kabul kill 7, wound 21
KABUL, Afghanistan - Two suicide bombers in the Afghan capital targeted two buses carrying Afghan army troops on Wednesday, killing seven and wounding 21 people, police said.
The first attacker hit a bus with Afghan National Army officers, killing seven and wounding 15 in west Kabul, said Kabul criminal investigation police chief Mohammad Farid Afzali.
The second attacker, who was also on foot, blew himself up in front of a second bus in northeast Kabul, wounding additional army personnel, Afzali said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attacks. They came a day after Afghanistan and the U.S. signed a security pact allowing U.S. forces to remain in the country past the end of the year to support Afghans as they take over the fight against the Taliban insurgency.
Under the pact, along with a separate deal signed with NATO, about 10,000 American troops and several thousand more from other NATO countries will stay to train and advise Afghan forces after the international combat mission ends Dec. 31.
• First case of Ebola diagnosed in United States
DALLAS - The first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. was confirmed Tuesday in a patient who recently traveled from Liberia to Dallas - a sign of the far-reaching impact of the out-of-control epidemic in West Africa.
The unidentified man was critically ill and has been in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital since Sunday, federal health officials said. They would not reveal his nationality or age.
Authorities have begun tracking down family, friends and anyone else who may have come in close contact with him and could be at risk for becoming ill. But officials said there are no other suspected cases in Texas.
At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Tom Frieden said the man left Liberia on Sept. 19, arrived the next day to visit relatives and started feeling ill four or five days later. He said it was not clear how the patient became infected.
There was no risk to any fellow airline passengers because the man had no symptoms when he was traveling, Frieden said.
• Secret Service admits failures in recent incident
WASHINGTON - Under withering criticism from Congress, the director of the Secret Service on Tuesday admitted failures in her agency's critical mission of protecting the president but repeatedly sidestepped key questions about how a knife-carrying intruder penetrated ring after ring of security before finally being tackled deep inside the White House.
Despite the extraordinary lapses in the Sept. 19 incident, Julia Pierson asserted: "The president is safe today."
Hours later, reports emerged of yet another failure in Secret Service protocol, this time in President Barack Obama's presence.
On Sept. 16, an armed federal contractor rode on an elevator with Obama and his security detail while the president was visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the Washington Examiner reported. The Washington Post reported similar details and added that the man had three convictions for assault and battery. The office of Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who has helped lead Congress' investigation, said a whistleblower had provided him the same details.
The gun was discovered only because the contractor was questioned after he persisted in taking video of Obama on the elevator, the reports said. The contractor was immediately fired by his employers.
• Hikers discuss surviving huge Japanese volcano
TOKYO - Huge boulders falling from the sky. Billowing gray smoke that cast total darkness over the mountain. Volcanic ash piling on the ground and fumes filling the air.
Some survivors of the eruption of Mount Ontake made a split-second decision to hide behind big rocks or escaped into lodges that dot the mountain's slopes. Outdoors, other hikers fell, hit by rocks or possibly suffocated by gases, and quickly buried in ash. At least 36 people were killed in Saturday's surprise eruption.
Some bodies have been recovered, and search efforts for the other missing bodies resumed Wednesday morning.
For survivors such as mountain guide Sayuri Ogawa, it was a near-death experience. The experience she recalled on Tuesday and the accounts of others suggest that luck and instinct made the difference between life and death for the hikers who were in harm's way.
Despite its impressive plume, the eruption was not a major one with lava flow. Yet, it proved deadly, because so many people were at the summit on a perfect day to enjoy hiking and the autumn leaves.
- The Associated Press