■ Pakistan
Attack death toll rises
Three more soldiers died of their wounds, taking the toll from a suicide attack on a local army soccer team to 12, the military said in a statement. The attack took place on Monday in a high security area of the garrison city of Kohat in North West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. The players were on a public road in the area when they were blown up. Nine were reported dead at the time of the attack. "Later, three critically injured also succumbed to their injuries," the military said in a statement late on Monday.
■ SRI LANKA
Tigers overrun military post
Tamil Tiger rebels overran a military outpost in the north yesterday, killing at least five government soldiers, the rebels said. The Tigers mounted the offensive at Weerapuram in the district of Vavuniya just outside their de facto mini-state, the Tiger's Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said in a statement. "At least five Sri Lanka armed forces men were killed and others fled," the statement said, adding that the guerrillas did not suffer any casualties. There was no immediate reaction from the military, which has claimed killing at least 327 rebels since Dec. 1.
■ JAPAN
Gun laws to be reviewed
The government will review gun control laws following last week's deadly shooting at a sports club, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Monday. A man opened fire on Friday night at a private gym in Sasebo, killing two people and injuring six. "No matter what the reason is, we should not let such a crime happen at any cost," Fukuda said. "There must be problems with usage standards or ways to control [guns]," Fukuda told reporters. The gunman, unemployed 37-year-old Masayoshi Magome, fired 10 shots and briefly took 10 people hostage before fleeing and turning the gun on himself in an apparent suicide.
■ BANGLADESH
Court to try war crimes case
A court on Monday accepted the first case since 1975 accusing people of war crimes during the war that led to the country's independence. The complaint, filed by a former guerrilla fighter who said his uncle and two cousin comrades were murdered in the 1971 conflict, accused two officials of a major political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and 11 other people. The accused included Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, the chief and secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami respectively. The complaint said they were commanders of al-Badar, a local auxiliary force of the Pakistan army in 1971.
■ SYRIA
Opposition activists nabbed
The government has detained four members of a secular opposition grouping, intensifying a week-old crackdown on dissent, the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights said on Monday. Security forces in Hama picked up Fidaa Horani, a 42-year-old gynecologist who chairs the Damascus Declaration grouping on Sunday and sent her to the capital, the rights group said. On Monday, the authorities detained three more members -- writer Ali Abdullah and doctors Walid Bunni and Mohammed Yaser al-Iti. Seven members of the grouping have now been detained since Dec. 9.
■ CANADA
Dubai pardons UN official
A Canadian UN official who advised Afghanistan on eradicating opium poppy crops was granted amnesty by the ruler of Dubai on Monday, six months after he was sentenced to four years in prison for smuggling and drug possession. Bert Tatham, 35, of Vancouver, was arrested April 23 during a one-hour stopover at the Dubai International Airport, for having a half a gram of hashish and two poppy bulbs. His attorney, Saeed Al-Gailani, said at the arraignment in June that Tatham accidentally carried a small amount of drugs because part of his job was to collect "tons of drugs every day" in Afghanistan. "His trousers must have mistakenly picked up the tiny quantity of hashish," al-Gailani said, adding Tatham was taking the poppy bulbs to Canada "for experiments and education." Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum pardoned Tatham and 376 other inmates this week.
■ GERMANY
Failed bombing trial opens
One of the two main suspects in last year's failed train bombings went on trial in Duesseldorf yesterday for attempted murder. Youssef Mohammed el-Hajdib, a 22-year-old Lebanese, is accused of attempting to blow up two commuter trains in July last year along with Jihad Hamad. The bombs' triggers went off, but the explosives failed to detonate and nobody was harmed. El-Hajdib was arrested the following month in Kiel; Hamad fled to Lebanon, where he was found guilty yesterday of planting bombs on two trains in Cologne. The Beirut Criminal sentenced him to 12 years hard labor in jail. It also convicted el-Hajdib in absentia, sentencing him to life in prison.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Lunar land prices skyrocket
Internet searches for lunar land prices show the cost of buying an acre of the moon has risen 40 percent since the start of this year, UBS told clients in a tongue-in-cheek analysis. Lacing a year-end note with a little holiday cheer, the investment bank said its "esoteric research" of news reports suggests lunar property trends may even be an indicator of US house prices.
■ UNITED STATES
Good drivers rewarded
Motorists in the suburban California city of Rancho Cordova may be in for a surprise if they spot flashing red lights in their rearview mirrors over the holiday season. Police are stopping law-abiding motorists and rewarding their good driving with US$5 Starbucks coffee gift cards. A traffic officer came up with the idea to "promote the holiday spirit and enhance goodwill between the traffic unit and the motoring public," police Sargent Tim Curran said. Local businesses donated money to buy the gift cards.
■ UNITED STATES
Student fabricates attack
A Princeton University junior who claimed to have been beaten by two men in black ski caps for his conservative views acknowledged on Monday that he made up the attack, said police officials in Princeton, New Jersey. The student, Francisco Nava, 23, told police that he was attacked on Friday night, two days after he and three other students belonging to a conservative group, the Anscombe Society, had received threatening e-mail messages, according to the university. On Monday, when confronted by police about inconsistencies in his story, Nava acknowledged that he inflicted scratches and bruises on his own face because of "underlying personal issues" and that he had not received any threatening e-mail, Detective Sergeant Ernie Silagyi said.
■ UNITED STATES
Student graduates at 87
A 50-year gap in his higher education didn't stop Clarence Garrett. After returning to college in spring of last year as a full-time student, Garrett completed course work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and was awarded his bachelor's degree at commencement ceremonies on Sunday -- at the age of 87. "We are not sure if Clarence Garrett is the oldest to ever graduate from UWM, but we do know that there had not been a graduate for some time who was born when the president was Woodrow Wilson," Chancellor Carlos Santiago said.
■ UNITED STATES
Money given to give away
A bank is giving its full-time employees US$1,000 each and part-time employees US$500 each. There's one condition -- use it for people in need. State Bank & Trust chief operating officer Michael Solberg said the payments are part of a US$502,000 "Pay it Forward" initiative. "We're going to really see some huge impact on our community," Solberg said. Employees were told not to use the money for themselves, their families or families of other bank employees. The bank asked employees to document the good deed with a videocam. The deadline is June 30.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in