NEED TO KNOW

Afghanistan blast. A suicide bomber blew up an explosives-laden Toyota Corolla next to a NATO-led convoy of armored vehicles in the southeast of Kabul this morning. It was the first major attack on the Afghan capital in two months.

At least six Afghan civilians were killed, including two children, and more than 30 people injured in the powerful blast that destroyed several mud-built houses in the area. There are unconfirmed reports that US nationals died in the attack.

An insurgent group linked to the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami, claimed responsibility for the attack and said the intended target was American advisers. 

Texas twisters. At least six people are dead after a tornado ripped through a town in Texas, local officials have said, destroying hundreds of houses including many built by the non-profit group Habitat for Humanity. 

The tornado that tore through Granbury, about 70 miles west of Dallas, was one of three to hit northern Texas late last night. Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds warned the death toll could rise as daybreak approaches and rescue teams search the area.

WANT TO KNOW

Malarial mosquitoes follow their noses. Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have found that mosquitoes carrying malaria are more attracted to us smelly humans than non-malarial ones are.

Those carrying the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum visited a fabric covered with a person’s sweat three times as frequently, the researchers found. Plasmodium’s ability to manipulate its hosts could help explain its ability to infect so many people.

However, the researchers don’t know how the parasite manipulates mosquitoes’ sense of smell. Nor is it clear what it is about human odor that is so attractive to the infected mosquitoes.

The Benghazi files. Faced with criticism over its handling of the crisis, the White House has released nearly 100 pages of documents and emails regarding the response to the terror attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his staff last year.

The CIA drafted “talking points” for US politicians to use with media in the days following the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, last September, the newly released documents show.

Will this put an end to persistent accusations that the Obama administration fumbled the incident? Probably not. Even with the release, Republicans say they still have unanswered questions, including the handling of the investigation into the Benghazi attacks by the Accountability Review Board.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

Cat sushi. Yes, cat sushi. A new ad campaign by a peanut company in Japan has people wondering what kind of hallucinatory drugs were needed to create this idea.

Nut company Tange & Nakimushi created a series of photos of cats transformed into sushi, and a video inventing a bizarre back story. Even the cats look surprised at what they’ve been asked (forced) to do.

Odd? Very, but not out of line for Japan, which is after all the home of Cat Prin — a “cat tailor” whose costumes include the “frog transformation set” and the “Anne of Green Gables is under cleaning” cat wig.

NEED TO KNOW

Diplomatic nonimmunity in Libya. France’s embassy in Tripoli was car-bombed early this morning, in what authorities are calling a terrorist attack.

Two French guards were injured and part of the embassy destroyed by the explosion outside the mission compound, a blast powerful enough to blow out windows more than 200 yards away. It’s thought to be the first major attack on any foreign mission in Tripoli (though not, of course, in Benghazi), and France called it “odious.” President Francois Hollande has urged the Libyan government to hunt down the perpetrators of what he says is an assault on “all countries in the international community engaged in the fight against terrorism.”

Remaining silent. US federal prosecutors have now filed charges against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old naturalized American they accuse of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing in collusion with his since-killed brother. So we know what they believe he did, but not why he might have done it.

Tsarnaev hasn’t yet proved able or willing to answer that pressing question; seriously injured in hospital, the only word he’s recorded to have said to authorities so far is “no” (when asked if he could afford a lawyer).

As police search for means and motive, GlobalPost is following the investigation from Boston to Chechnya and beyond. Find our full coverage here.

WANT TO KNOW

From bomb plots to foiled plots. Two men are due in court in Canada this morning, charged with conspiring to derail a passenger train somewhere between Toronto and New York. Canadian police say their year-long investigation suggests the suspects were backed by “Al Qaeda elements in Iran.”

The US has long alleged that the Iranian government, despite belonging to the Shia branch of Islam that’s naturally at odds with Al Qaeda’s Salafist ideology, tolerates the terrorist group’s presence. Tehran, however, has always denied those accusations and now dismisses these latest claims as part of a campaign of Iranophobia by “Canada’s radical government.” Which, we’ll bet, is the first time anyone called Canada that.

Contracted pupils. Foaming at the mouth. These are sure signs, according to Israeli military intelligence, that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are using chemical weapons against the people of Syria.

The government’s army has fired what’s suspected to be the deadly nerve agent sarin at rebel forces “on a number of occasions in the past few months,” Israel’s top intelligence analyst, Brigadier-General Itai Brun, said today. The charge has long been rumored but never yet confirmed; if it is, the US has said, it will be “a game-changer.”

STRANGE BUT TRUE

From Portland to Pyongyang. The “third wave of coffee,” it seems, has reached all the way to North Korea. Visitors to the capital report there’s a new coffee shop in town, and it serves the specialty, artisan brews you’d expect from your local independent roastery.

Those who’ve been recommend the espresso (“bursting with nutty flavors,” apparently). At around $3.50 a cup in a country plagued by famine, it had better be good.

reuters:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday Algerian militants involved in an attack on a desert gas plant in Algeria this month had weapons from Libya.

“There is no doubt that the Algerian terrorists had weapons from Libya. There is no doubt that the Malian remnants of AQIM have weapons from Libya,” she said at a Senate hearing on the September attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. AQIM - Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - is an affiliate of al Qaeda.

LIVE VIDEO: Clinton testifies on consulate attack in Benghazi

Millions of Americans will watch President Obama and Governor Romney debate tonight. Among the accusations the candidates will hurl at one another, some will be true, some distorted, and some outright lies. From China to Syria to Libya and beyond, be an informed spectator with GlobalPost’s pre-debate fact-check binder.

What is happening in Libya, Egypt and the rest of the Middle East? We sat down with Middle East Editor Peter Gelling to find out. 

More at GlobalPost

A statement released by the White House from President Obama has confirmed the death of Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya.

In the statement Obama said:

Chris was a courageous and exemplary representative of the United States. Throughout the Libyan revolution, he selflessly served our country and the Libyan people at our mission in Benghazi. As Ambassador in Tripoli, he has supported Libya’s transition to democracy. His legacy will endure wherever human beings reach for liberty and justice. I am profoundly grateful for his service to my Administration, and deeply saddened by this loss.

A Libyan official told Reuters that Stevens was killed while he and the others working in the US embassy were being rushed from a consular building as it was stormed by militants angered over a US-made film that they say insults the Prophet Mohammad. 

Stevens was 52 years old.

According to his state department biography, Stevens was raised in California where he went on to study for his undergraduate degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1982 before graduating from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in 1989.

The Telegraph noted that the reports Stevens sent back to the US government from Libya are believed to have encouraged US support of the rebel council, formally carried out in July 2011 by Obama administration.

The Telegraph added, ”Upon his arrival in April last year, Stevens became the highest-ranking US representative to travel to Libya since the uprising began.”

The bio adds that prior to joining the foreign service, Stevens was an international trade lawyer in Washington, DC. From 1983 to 1985 he taught English as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.  

In a video introducing Stevens as the ambassador, he expressed his desire to continue building US and Libyan relationships. Stevens added, “I had the honor to serve as the US envoy to the Libyan opposition during the revolution, was thrilled to watch the Libyan people demand their rights. Now I am excited to return to Libya to continue the great work we started.”

More on Stevens and the attack at GlobalPost

MISRATA, Libya — As students and teachers gathered in a large hall at the University of Misrata this week, the atmosphere was one of joy and celebration. Balloons decorated the room. Camera’s flashed all around as they waited for the party to begin.

“We are the first students in Libya to be able to graduate without having to bare the title The Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on our certificates,” said a young female student as she began her speech to her fellow graduates.

GlobalPost’s Nichole Sobecki reports from Benghazi, Libya that the city’s people exude pride at having taken control.

It’s not the easiest, or safest, country for a journalist to travel. A quick survey indicates that the National Post and Reuters have coverage datelined Libya. Let us know if you see other news organizations that have good sources on the ground.