Afghan suicide truck bomber kills 35

At least one doctor was among the 35 killed and 60 wounded by the suicide truck bomber Saturday at an Afghan hospital.NEW: A French soldier was killed in Kapisa provinceAlong with the 35 dead, 25 were wounded, an official saidISAF, U.S. and Karzai condemned the latest attacks

Kabul, Afghanistan(CNN) -- A suicide bomb attack targeting a hospital in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 35 people and wounded more than two dozen, a brazen strike that rocked a maternity ward and claimed the lives of numerous women and children.

The incident occurred Saturday in the Azra district of Logar province when a truck packed with explosives detonated, according to Sifatiullah Haqmal, a member of the provincial council.

The head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said "much of the damage was in the maternity ward of the hospital, and many of those killed and injured were women and children."

The mission noted that assaults on hospitals "are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law" and that "medical workers, clinics and hospitals must be respected and protected in all circumstances."

Dr. Khaliq Yar, head of the provincial projects for a national medical program, described the hospital as a four-ward comprehensive health center, including a section for mothers and children and ten beds for maternity patients.

The Logar assault follows a similar strike last month when a suicide bombing tore through a military hospital in Kabul, killing six people and injuring others.

"This is a despicable attack against civilians who were seeking medical care, as well as visiting family members and health workers," Staffan de Mistura, the special representative of the secretary-general for Afghanistan, said in a statement on Saturday.

"The terrorists demonstrated a disregard for human life when they targeted Afghans who were patients in a hospital and their visitors and relatives, and hospital personnel," the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said in a statement.

Casualty reports fluctuated in the hours after the attack. Logar governor's spokesman Den Mohammad Darwish told CNN that along with the 35 deaths, 25 others were wounded.

The Logar strike is the second attack in as many days in Afghanistan that targeted civilians, just days after President Barack Obama outlined a plan to withdraw 30,000 troops from the country by September 2012.

Along with the Logar strike, a bomb attack in the northern province of Kunduz on Friday killed at least 10 people, actions the embassy called "devastating."

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO's International Security Assistance Force also issued statements condemning both incidents, and said the violence underscores warnings from military commanders that insurgents are intent on pursuing large-scale strikes.

"The insurgents have a complete disregard for the innocent people of Afghanistan who are trying to live in peace," ISAF spokesman Rear Adm. Vic Beck said.

The Kunduz incident on Friday occurred in the province's Khan Abad district square, said Mohibullah Saidi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

Along with the 10 deaths, 24 people were wounded in the attack, the Ministry of Interior said. The bomb was placed in a bicycle and was detonated by remote control, Saidi said.

ISAF also reported the deaths of two service members on Saturday in separate insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan, and the alliance confirmed that one of them was a French service member. The nationality of the other soldier was not immediately available.

There have been 48 international troop deaths in June and 264 this year, according to a CNN count of casualties.

The French government said its soldier was wounded by insurgent fire in a fight during a reconnaissance mission in Kapisa province and died later at a hospital. He is the 63rd French soldier to die in the Afghan war.

France announced Thursday that it would also begin to reduce troop numbers, saying it "will initiate a progressive withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, and will follow a timetable comparable to the withdrawal of the American troops."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said the withdrawal will be done in consultation with NATO allies and the Afghan government.

All French soldiers could be out of Afghanistan by 2013, French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet told France Info radio Thursday.

CNN's Matiullah Mati and Joe Sterling contributed to this report

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Mexico discovers 117 migrants hidden in truck (AP)

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican army has discovered 117 migrants hidden inside a trailer truck in the southern state of Oaxaca.

The federal immigration agency says soldiers detected the truck in the town of San Pedro Totolapam, 350 miles (564 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City. The agency says it doesn't know if any arrests have been made.

The migrants are mainly from Guatemala and El Salvador. The agency says they were found Thursday evening, but immigration authorities weren't notified until Friday.

Officials are checking their medical condition before they are deported.

Mexican authorities have recently discovered large groups of migrants bound for the United States in jammed trailers. That includes two trucks with a total of 513 people in May.

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Mexico discovers 117 migrants hidden in truck (AP)

MEXICO CITY – The Mexican army has discovered 117 migrants hidden inside a trailer truck in the southern state of Oaxaca.

The federal immigration agency says soldiers detected the truck in the town of San Pedro Totolapam, 350 miles (564 kilometers) southeast of Mexico City. The agency says it doesn't know if any arrests have been made.

The migrants are mainly from Guatemala and El Salvador. The agency says they were found Thursday evening, but immigration authorities weren't notified until Friday.

Officials are checking their medical condition before they are deported.

Mexican authorities have recently discovered large groups of migrants bound for the United States in jammed trailers. That includes two trucks with a total of 513 people in May.

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Mexico finds 213 migrants crammed in truck (AP)

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico – A Mexican immigration official says 213 Central and South American migrants were discovered crammed into a tractor trailer with no food or water in the southern border state of Chiapas.

The federal immigration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, says the migrants were discovered by federal police at a highway checkpoint.

The official said Sunday the truck driver and his assistant were both detained and that the migrants were given food and water and are awaiting deportation. Brazilians, Guatemalans and El Salvadorans were among those apprehended.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants cross Mexico's southern border on their way to the United States.

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Indy 500 Warmup: World Record-Setting 332-foot Truck Jump [VIDEO] (Mashable)

[More from Mashable: Money-Shredding Alarm Clock Is Completely Unforgiving [PICS]]

Sunday was Indy 500 day, and our thoughts turned to fast cars, the latest automotive tech, the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500, and … world-record truck jumping?

[More from Mashable: 13 Instagram Apps For More Photo Fun]

That's what happened at turn 4 of the Indianapolis 500 race track, when stunt driver and Top Gear star Tanner Faust warmed up the crowd by setting a new jumping distance world record for a 4-wheeled vehicle.

Driving down a huge ramp designed look like a Hot Wheels "V-Drop" track as part of a "Fearless at the 500" promotion, Faust picked up enough speed to launch his specially modified "Pro 2" truck a world-record 332 feet. That was more than enough to beat the previous record of 301 feet.

Until the day of the jump, Faust's identity was kept secret. He'd been practicing for months -- he tells his story in this video, revealed for the first time on Sunday:

And the video teaser that led up to the jump:

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Sixteen killed in NATO fuel truck blast in Pakistan (Reuters)

LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan (Reuters) – At least 16 people were killed in northwest Pakistan on Saturday after a bomb attack claimed by a militant group hit a truck carrying fuel supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, the latest attack in an upsurge in violence since Osama bin Laden was killed.

It took place near the Torkham border crossing in the Khyber region, the main route for moving supplies to NATO and American forces in Afghanistan.

"The tanker was on fire because of a blast late in t

he night. There was another blast early in the morning in the same tanker and 16 people who gathered near it to collect oil were killed," a senior local administration official in Khyber told Reuters.

Police officials said the first blast was caused by a bomb.

In another attack in the same region, a bomb struck 16 NATO fuel trucks late on Friday, setting them on fire. No one was hurt.

Militants have stepped up attacks in Pakistan, an unstable U.S. ally, since U.S. special forces killed al Qaeda leader bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad this month.

Abdullah Azzam Brigade, a militant group affiliated with Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for both attacks on the NATO trucks.

"It is our jihad against Americans. We want to stop supplies for NATO from our territory," Abu Musa'ab, a spokesman for the group, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Residents of Landikotal stood looking at 15 wooden coffins holding the victims. Nearby a truck that was hit by the bomb was burned out and gutted.

The attacks on the NATO trucks in Khyber came hours after the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a U.S. consulate convoy in the city of Peshawar.

One Pakistani was killed and 12 people were injured, including two lightly wounded U.S. nationals.

Routes through Pakistan bring in 40 percent of supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan, according to the United States Transportation Command. Of the remainder, 40 percent come through Afghanistan's neighbors in the north and 20 percent by air.

The Pakistani Taliban are pressing ahead with their campaign of suicide bombings designed to de-stabilize the unpopular government, despite several army offensives against their strongholds along the lawless border region with Afghanistan.

Eight suspected militants were killed on Saturday when army gunship helicopters attacked their hideouts in Orakzai region, adjoining Khyber, local officials said.

(Additional reporting by Izaz Mohmand and Fayaz Aziz; Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Michael Georgy and Alex Richardson)

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Mexico: 513 immigrants found in truck

Mexican authorities reached out to consulates and embassies to arrange the immigrants return to their home countries.The immigrants primarily hail from Central America and AsiaAttorney general: Each of them paid $7,000 to reach the United StatesX-ray equipment detects the immigrants at checkpoints in the state of ChiapasChiapas borders Guatemala and is a key crossing point for immigrants

Mexico City (CNN) -- Mexican authorities said they found and detained more than 500 illegal immigrants from Central America and Asia who were crammed inside two tractor-trailers heading toward the United States on Tuesday.

X-ray equipment detected the immigrants at checkpoints in the southern state of Chiapas, the state attorney general's office said. The drivers of both trucks sped away after authorities ordered them to stop, but police apprehended them nearby.

Inside the tractor-trailers, they found 513 people from El Salvador, Ecuador, China, Japan, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

Each of them had paid $7,000 to travel to the United States, the attorney general said.

They had been traveling in "inhumane conditions," Mexico's National Migration Institute said.

Officials said the group was receiving food, shelter and medical assistance while Mexican federal immigration authorities reached out to consulates and embassies to arrange their return to their home countries.

The southern border state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, is a major crossing point for Central American immigrants heading north.

In 2010, Mexican authorities apprehended about 25,000 illegal immigrants there, according to statistics from Mexico's National Migration Institute.

Journalist Angeles Mariscal and CNNMexico.com contributed to this report.

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