A bomb blast near the capital, Damascus, has killed 16 people, according to AP. The SANA news agency said a car packed with explosives blew up on Thursday near a school in a residential part of the southwestern suburb of Qatana. The report quotes medics from a nearby hospital as saying 16 people were killed, and nearly two dozen people were wounded. Anti-regime activists said more than 40,000 people have been killed since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime in March 2011.