Midday Roundup: ISIS bombs Baghdad market on busy day

Urban warfare. Islamic State (ISIS) militants bombed a crowded Baghdad market in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood this morning, killing at least 67 people. Thursday is a popular day at the market as people from neighboring provinces stock up for the weekend. The truck bomb decimated the area. Attacks are common in Baghdad, but they rarely have a death toll this high. “This is the strongest explosion I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Hassan Hamid, a 37-year-old driver who was injured in the blast. “I saw some cars were thrown into the sky, and a fire erupted all over the place.”

Mega blast. Massive explosions in a warehouse storing chemicals shook a Chinese port Wednesday, creating a fireball so large it could be seen from space. The blasts knocked out windows 1.5 miles away. More than 700 injured people have overwhelmed local hospitals. At least 50 people, including 12 firefighters, have died, and more are missing.

Undergoing treatment. Former President Jimmy Carter has cancer that has spread throughout his body, he announced yesterday. He recently had surgery to remove a mass on his liver at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Carter, who is 90, has a family history of the disease: his mother, father, brother, and sisters all died from pancreatic cancer. President Barack Obama wished Carter a full recovery on Wednesday, saying, “Jimmy, you’re as resilient as they come, and along with the rest of America, we are rooting for you.”

Extreme measures. Outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday, protesters demanded reparations for Korean women forced by the Japanese army into prostitution during World War II. An 80-year old man set himself on fire at the rally. The man’s motives were not immediately clear, and bystanders managed to quickly put out the flames. The man was treated for non-life-threatening burns. The plight of South Korea’s so-called “Comfort Women,” allegedly forced into prostitution during the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II, has been a sore subject between the two governments for decades.

Word wrangling. The term “Dixie,” an informal name for the South, is racist and offensive to some people, according to Winston-Salem, N.C., Councilman James Taylor. He’s calling on the City Council to drop the word from the name of the city’s annual Dixie Classic Fair. Some residents disagree, saying the name is part of Southern tradition, not racism. The fair takes place the first week in October. It’s gone by the name Dixie ClassicFair since 1956.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.