Afghan militants raid bank...Scenes of devastation in Pakistan...Anti-missile blimps near Baltimore

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say at least 10 people are dead after insurgents raided a bank in southern Helmand province today. Officials say one bomber detonated his explosives at the door of New Kabul Bank and four other insurgents stormed inside. A gunfight erupted once security forces arrived and surrounded the building. Meanwhile, Afghan police say a drone strike in the eastern province of Nangahar killed 11 insurgents yesterday.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The military-run school in northwestern Pakistan where Taliban gunmen massacred at least 148 people remains a scene of devastation this morning. Officials allowed media inside where blood was still pooled on the floor and stairs and broken glass, torn notebooks, clothing and shoes lay scattered on the ground. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (nah-WAHZ' shah-REEF') is pledging to step up the military campaign against the insurgents, saying: "We must not forget these scenes."

BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurdish Iraqi forces say they have launched an operation to retake the militant-held town of Sinjar in northern Iraq. The Kurdish Regional Security Council says peshmerga forces have moved into the town with the support of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. Sinjar first fell to the Islamic State group in August, causing tens of thousands of residents, mainly from the minority Yazidi (yah-ZEE'-dee) group, to flee into the nearby mountains.

BOSTON (AP) — Fourteen people have been arrested this morning in connection with a deadly 2012 outbreak of fungal meningitis. Federal prosecutors say those arrested include two co-founders and 12 other former employees of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy identified as the source of the outbreak. About 750 people in 20 states developed meningitis or other infections after receiving the contaminated steroids from the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, and 64 people died.

UNDATED (AP) — The U.S. military will begin testing a new cruise-missile defense system near Baltimore today. The blimp-like airship is known as JLENS, short for Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System. By February, two helium-filled airships will be tethered to concrete pads four miles apart at Aberdeen Proving Ground. They will float 10,000 feet high for the three-year test, carrying radar, not weapons. One ship will scan an area roughly from Norfolk, Virginia, to upstate New York while the other pinpoints targets.

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