Shorter Question Everything

Russia
Homemade bomb derailed Russian train speeding through the forest from Moscow to Saint Petersburg, killing up to 39 people and injuring nearly 100, Russian officials said Saturday. “We are indeed talking about a terrorist attack,” Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the federal investigative committee, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. The committee said it had found bomb fragments at the scene. The investigative committee said in a statement that its experts had found “elements of an explosive device” at the scene of the disaster, a wooded expanse 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Moscow near the village of Uglovka. There was no immediate confirmed claim of responsibility for the attack.

Pakistan
President Asif Ali Zardari has handed control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal to his prime minister, in an apparent bid to ease political pressure. The move was a “giant leap” forward that empowered the PM and parliament, Mr Zardari’s spokesman said. But analysts said it was an attempt to placate political and military critics, as an amnesty protecting Mr Zardari from possible prosecution expired. The amnesty gave him and several others immunity from corruption charges. The presidency announced that control of the National Command Authority, responsible for nuclear weapons, had shifted to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.