World news in brief

Below are news highlights from the world for Tuesday, 28 Oct. 2014:

 

Iraq 

At least 38 people were killed Monday in two car bombings in Iraq, including one where a suicide attacker drove a vehicle into a checkpoint manned by Iraqi troops and pro-government Shiite militiamen.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack which took place in a town 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, but the bombing bore all the hallmarks of an attack by the Islamic State group.

 

Tokyo

A town in southwest Japan on Tuesday approved the restart of a nuclear power station, another step forward in Japan's process of reviving an industry left idled by the Fukushima catastrophe in 2011. 

All 48 of the country's nuclear reactors were gradually taken offline following the earthquake and tsunami which led to the Fukushima meltdown, the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

 

North Korea

Japanese and North Korean officials have met for talks to assess progress in Pyongyang's investigation into the fates of Japanese citizens who were abducted in the 1970s and `80s. 

The abduction issue has long been a major obstacle in the ties between the two nations, which have no formal diplomatic relations.

 

New Zealand

A Malaysian military officer extradited to New Zealand to face sexual assault charges was released on bail today after having been jailed for five months. 

Muhammad Rizalman Ismail was working at the Malaysian Embassy in Wellington when he was arrested May 9 for allegedly following a 21-year-old woman home and assaulting her.

 

Mexico

Mexican authorities searching for 43 missing college students have found human remains in a new area of southern Guerrero state and are testing to see if they belong to the young men who last were seen in police custody a month ago.

The students from a rural teachers college disappeared after a confrontation with police in Iguala, a city some 80 miles southwest of Mexico City.

 

Canada

Toronto Canada has elected John Tory as its new mayor following the four-year tenure of  Rob Ford which was marked by headlines of illegal drug use and public drunkenness.

The former mayor of Canada’s largest city announced in September he would not seek re-election as he battles a rare form of cancer.

 

Estonia

A 15-year-old student shot and killed his teacher during class on Monday in a town in southern Estonia in what was the first known school shooting in the Baltic nation. 

Government officials said the victim was a 56-year-old female teacher of German, but police said they had no details about a possible motive.