AFGHANISTAN
Bomb strikes German convoy
A suicide car bomber struck a German military convoy in Kunduz yesterday, detonating explosives that killed three Afghan civilians and overturned at least one armored vehicle, officials and witnesses said. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber blew his vehicle up shortly before 10am on a busy road on the edge of Kunduz city, near the airport. Three civilians were killed and 11 were wounded in the blast, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
PHILIPPINES
Bomb in bar wounds four
An improvised bomb has exploded at a bar in the restive southern Mindanao region, wounding four people, police said yesterday. Witnesses saw a man acting suspiciously and leaving quickly before the bomb exploded at the Starlight Videoke bar in Tacurong city on Saturday evening, national police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although Muslim separatist rebels and other armed gangs are known to operate in the area. The explosion came just days after the US Department of State warned of the risk of terrorist attacks in in parts of Mindanao, as well as in Manila.
CHINA
Flooding affects 2.6 million
More than 2 million people have been displaced or otherwise affected by flooding in Zhejiang Province. Xinhua news agency says torrential rains have left huge areas of the relatively wealthy province underwater, with 171,000 hectares of farmland inundated. Xinhua reported yesterday that almost 1,000 businesses have been forced to suspend operations and 2.6 million people have had their lives disrupted. Direct financial damages were estimated at almost 5 billion yuan (US$772 million).
POLAND
Plane crashes at airshow
A small plane lost control and plunged into a river on Saturday as it performed stunts at an air show. The pilot, the only person on board, was killed. The accident occurred in Plock as people gathered by the Vistula River for a picnic and the air show. The news station TVN24 broadcast images of the small plane doing aerobatics when it began spewing out plumes of dark smoke and then plunged into the water. Rescue workers pulled the pilot from the wreckage and tried to resuscitate him before sending him to a hospital. Several hours later, a hospital official said the pilot, Marek Szufa, died. The director of the Air Club of Mazovia that organized the show, Slawomir Adamkowski, said the cause of the crash was under investigation.
IRAN
Camp needs monitors: group
A leader of an exiled opposition group says the UN must monitor its camp in Iraq after a deadly April attack by the Iraqi army. Maryam Rajavi of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran told thousands of followers at a gathering on Saturday outside Paris that UN monitors in Camp Ashraf is the most expedient short-term way to protect the 3,400 people living there. The camp was installed under former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and once used as a base to battle the clerical regime across the border in Iran. The US has labeled the Mujahedeen a terrorist group, and Rajavi says Washington is responsible for the situation in Ashraf because it has “shackled the main force for change in Iran.” An Iraqi army attack on the enclave killed up to 35 people and injured hundreds.
UNITED STATES
Clarence Clemons dies
A spokeswoman for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band says saxophone player Clarence Clemons has died in Florida at age 69. Spokeswoman Marilyn Laverty confirmed the death on Saturday. Clemons was one of the key influences in Springsteen’s life and music. He was hospitalized about a week ago after suffering a stroke at his home in Florida. Known as the Big Man for his imposing 1.83m, 122.47kg frame, Clemons spent much of his life with “The Boss” and his solos became a signature sound for the E Street Band on many songs. Springsteen, in a statement on his Web site, expressed “overwhelming sadness” at Clemons’s passing. “He was my great friend, my partner,” Springsteen said. “He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years.”
MEXICO
Eleven killed in shootout
Eleven suspected crime syndicate gunmen were killed in a shootout with soldiers along a highway in the east of the country, a senior official said on Saturday. “During the encounter 11 heavily armed criminals were killed” and another eight arrested, Veracruz State Governor Javier Duarte told reporters. The gunfire erupted when soldiers conducting an operation against a suspected criminal cell were confronted by armed men in a group of vehicles.
CANADA
Anti-fracking protest held
About 3,000 people marched on Saturday in Montreal to call for an end in Quebec to a technique known as “fracking” to get at natural gas reserves which faces strong opposition from environmental groups. The demonstrators marched through downtown Montreal, chanting slogans against drilling. “Quebec should take a turn for renewable energy, especially new energy sources which are green,” said Amir Khadir, a member of the provincial assembly who came on bicycle to join the protest. The Quebec Association to Combat Air Pollution, which organized the protest, said a decision by Quebec authorities to study the issue was insufficient, because eight of the 11 members of a study panel have ties to the oil and gas industries. Hydraulic fracturing involves forcing chemicals deep into a well to dislodge natural gas from shale thousands of feet below the surface. Backers say the vast reserves in North America could ease dependence on imported energy. However, some argue that the method risks contaminating underground water sources. In Quebec, large sources of shale gas are believed to be located in the St. Lawrence valley, and Quebec authorities are studying the potential environmental impact of drilling in the area.
COLOMBIA
Biggest emerald on show
A massive uncut emerald on exhibit in Bogota is being touted by its owners as the biggest in the world, officials said on Saturday. The 11,000 karat raw green gem weighs in at 2.27kg and is on show in the capital 12 years after it was mined in Muzo, in Boyaca Province. “It is priceless,” Santiago Soto, spokesman for the Minergemas gem industry trade fair being held in Bogota, said of the stone owned by the firm Coexminas. No more than 15 people at a time are allowed to view the stone, with five guards looking on. The nation produces 55 percent of the world’s emeralds, exporting them for about US$200 million a year.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘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