SOUTH AFRICA
Officials probe mine killings
The government opened an inquiry yesterday into the police killing of at least 34 miners during one day of violence in August, hoping to uncover how a dispute over pay ended in a bloodbath. The commission, appointed by President Jacob Zuma, will begin proceedings at the Rustenburg Civic Centre, just a stone’s throw from the mine where police gunned down striking platinum miners on Aug. 16. The commission is led by former Supreme Court of Appeal judge Ian Farlam. The police, miners, unions, government and mine owner Lonmin PLC all face tough questions about their conduct during the unrest, which began with miners striking for better pay on Aug. 10.
BAHRAIN
Protesters sentences upheld
The nation’s highest court yesterday confirmed jail sentences issued against nine medics convicted for their role in last year’s pro-democracy uprising, state news agency BNA reported. The controversial case has drawn international criticism to the country, which has been in turmoil since pro-democracy protests led by its Shiite Muslim majority erupted last year and were crushed by the Sunni rulers. BNA quoted Attorney General Abdul-Rahman al-Sayed as saying that the Court of Cassation has rejected all appeals presented by the defendants and confirmed the previous verdicts of prison terms of up to five years. In June, the appeals court gave Ali al-Ekry, former senior medic at the Salmaniya Hospital in Manama, a five-year sentence and eight others were handed jail terms ranging from one month to three years. Washington and rights groups have criticized the June ruling, with Amnesty International saying it was a “dark day for justice.”
MEXICO
Chopped-up bodies found
Police on Sunday found the remains of seven people whose bodies were chopped up and dumped in cars in the northern part of the country, near the US border. Police in Nuevo Laredo received a phone tip on Sunday reporting bodies found in two cars that had been abandoned in a shopping center, state prosecutors said in a statement. A source with the prosecutors’ office, speaking privately, said the bodies were those of six men aged between 30 and 35, and another person whose age and gender had not been confirmed.
UNITED STATES
Bonnie & Clyde guns sold
Two guns once in the possession of notorious gangsters Bonnie and Clyde when they were killed in a hail of gunfire sold at a New Hampshire auction on Sunday for more than half a million US dollars. The guns were two of 134 artifacts that sold for a total of US$1.1 million at the auction in Nashua. Bonnie Parker’s .38-caliber Detective Special that she had taped to her thigh when she was killed in 1934 drew the highest bid and sold for US$264,000, said Bobby Livingston, vice president of RR Auction in New Hampshire, which held the auction.
IRAQ
Deaths reach two-year peak
Last month was the deadliest month in Iraq in more than two years, with 365 people killed in attacks, official figures released yesterday showed. The statistics compiled by the health, interior and defense ministries showed that 182 civilians, 88 police and 95 soldiers were killed in attacks last month. Another 683 people were wounded — 453 civilians, 110 police and 120 soldiers, according to the figures. It was the highest monthly toll given by the government since August 2010.
‘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