HP TouchPad
HP Touchpad HP

HP dumped its webOS Touchpad tablet, the Taliban attacked a British cultural center in Kabul, five were killed at a Belgian music festival, and more in today's Daily Scoop.

After releasing it a little over a month ago, Hewlett-Packard has decided to cut ties with its webOS Touchpad tablet computer due to abysmal sales.

The Touchpad was billed as a legitimate rival to Apple's iPad and HP heavily marketed it with celebrities, including boxer Manny Pacquaio and Glee star Lea Michele, but it was never able to gain much traction.

Earlier in the week it was revealed that Best Buy had only sold about 25,000 of its initial 275,000 order, and was considering trying to send the tablets back.

The company also announced on Thursday that it was considering spinning off its PC division and was in talks to acquire British software company, Autonomy. The deal with Autonomy is for $10 billion and meant to bolster its growing enterprise software business.

Taliban Attack Kills Nine in Kabul

At least nine people were killed on Friday after a pair of suicide bombs rocked a British cultural center in Kabul. The Taliban has already claimed the attack as theirs on the same day Afghanistan celebrated its 1919 independence from Britain.

The suicide bombs and gun battle happened at Afghanistan's British Council, a British backed cultural and education organization.

No British nationals were hurt in the attacks, and it is believed that Afghan and Nepalese police officers are among the casualties.

All British nationals affected are now safe, Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said in a statement released in London. It is a sad fact that once again an attack aimed at the international community has killed Afghans.

Five Dead, Dozens Injured at Pukkelpop Festival

In the fourth major stage collapse since July, at least five people are dead after a stage fell to heavy storms at the Belgian music festival Pukkelpop on Thursday.

The Belgian festival was hit with massive rain and hail storms that knocked down at least three tents, killing five and injuring at least 75 people.

Out of respect for those killed and injured, festival organizers decided to cancel the rest of the festival on Friday morning. The concert was set to feature the Foo Fighters, Eminem, The Wombats, and more before the cancellation.

This is the blackest day that any Belgian festival has experienced, Chokri Mahassine told the Wall Street Journal. I would not wish this on anybody.

Last week five fans were killed when a stage collapsed during a Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair. The Flaming Lips and Cheap Trick also experienced stage collapses earlier in July.

Japan Gets Hit with 6.8 Earthquake

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Japan's northeast coast, approximately 185 miles northeast of Tokyo, on Friday afternoon.

Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami advisory for potential waves of 20 inches, but recalled the advisory 35 minutes later.

There was no reported damage from the quake, though buildings in Tokyo did sway a bit, according to reports.

This is the first sizable earthquake in over a month for Japan, which sits on top of a deadly collection of four tectonic plates. The country was rocked by a 9.0 earthquake in March that left over 20,000 citizens dead or missing.

Ipad Afghanistan HP Tsunami