A ferocious blaze raged for a third day at a giant oil pipeline in northern Iraq, and US military officials yesterday said it was too soon to say what triggered the fire. Earlier, Iraqi police officials blamed saboteurs.
The Danish army reported one of its soldier died after being shot during a gun battle with armed Iraqis whose truck had been stopped during a routine patrol near Basra in southern Iraq.
The soldier was the first Dane to be killed in Iraq since Denmark sent a contingent of about 400 soldiers this summer to join the occupation force in the Basra region.
Two Iraqis were killed in the shootout Saturday, one was wounded and six were arrested, the Danish army command said in Copenhagen.
In northern Baghdad overnight a big water main was hit by an explosion, flooding streets and cutting supplies to a part of the city.
Witnesses said they saw two men on the motorbike leaving a bag of explosives and detonating it minutes later in the early hours yesterday.
L. Paul Bremer, the US civilian administrator of Iraq, said the country was losing US$7 million daily with the oil export pipeline out of operation.
The new Iraqi police commander had vowed on Saturday to pursue the "conspirators" behind the attack that halted oil exports to Turkey only days after they resumed, cutting off vital income for an economy in shambles.
The crumbling network of pipe had begun pumping oil to Turkey on Wednesday, and the explosion early Friday near Baiji, 200km northeast of Baghdad, cut it off completely, acting Iraqi oil minister Thamer al-Ghadaban said in the capital.
Police Brigadier General Ahmed Ibrahim, once imprisoned for speaking out against former president Saddam Hussein, was appointed Saturday to be the top Iraqi law enforcement official. He blamed the explosion on "a group of conspirators who received money from a particular party," which he didn't identify.
"With God's help, we will arrest those people and bring them to justice," Ibrahim said. "The damage inflicted on the pipeline is damage done to all Iraqi people."
But a US military spokesman said it was too soon to say whether the explosion was an accident or sabotage.
"Until it's cooled off, nobody can say exactly what happened," said Lieutenant Colonel William MacDonald, of the 4th Infantry Division based in Tikrit. People on the ground were still waiting to investigate the cause, he said.
Al-Ghadaban said it would take several days to get the pipeline working again.
"It is a large pipeline with large volume of crude oil," he said.
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
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