PAKISTAN
Mass burials under way
Mass burials for 89 victims of Saturday’s bomb attack targeting Shiite Muslims began yesterday after three days of nationwide protests at the government’s failure to tackle sectarian violence. Tensions were running high as up to 4,000 mourners gathered in Quetta, and some pelted a government official’s car with stones, prompting security forces and then protesters to fire into the air. Soldiers from the paramilitary Frontier Corps and police were deployed in all markets and on roads in Quetta as the burials took place.
Photo: EPA
NORTH KOREA
New video targets Obama
The government has released a new propaganda video showing US soldiers and US President Barack Obama burning in the flames of a nuclear blast. The footage was uploaded on YouTube on Monday by the government’s official Web site, Uriminzokkiri. The video showed images of Obama waving and preparing to deliver his State of the Union address — superimposed against a background of rising flames. It ends with an animated sequence of a nuclear bomb being detonated in an underground bunker and the message: “The whole world is now watching. The US must answer now.” Meanwhile, the government is rewarding the scientists and workers behind its Feb. 12 nuclear test with a visit to Pyongyang to enjoy “the greatest privileges,” the Korean Central News Agency said yesterday. The agency promised a “joyful and delightful time” at the city’s open-air ice rink and roller skating center.
NEW ZEALAND
Antarctica collision reported
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says a Japanese whaling boat has collided with two anti-whaling ships and a refueling boat near Antarctica. Society founder Paul Watson says he was aboard the ship Steve Irwin yesterday when the Japanese boat Nisshin Maru collided with it and with the Bob Barker. Watson says the Nisshin Maru was trying to pull alongside a refueling tanker and the anti-whaling boats were trying to prevent it. He said the Nisshin Maru also collided with the tanker.
ISRAEL
Probe into photo launched
The army says it has launched an investigation after a soldier allegedly posted a picture on Instagram of a Palestinian child’s head in the crosshairs of his sniper rifle. The picture shows a child sitting with his back to the sniper’s telescope, with its crosshairs on the left side of his head. Local media said the image was uploaded by 20-year-old sniper Mor Ostrovski to Instagram last week, though security sources say he has denied taking the picture.
PHILIPPINES
Pineapple farm attacked
Officials say more than 100 New People’s Army guerrillas stormed one of the world’s largest pineapple plantations, killing a guard, burning farm equipment and seizing firearms. Police yesterday said two other guards were shot and wounded by about 100 guerrillas who barged into a residential, recreational and office complex on the Del Monte Philippines plantation late on Tuesday in Manolo Fortich town in Bukidnon province. The guerrillas blocked traffic in two nearby towns to prevent troops from responding to the attack, police said.
BULGARIA
Government resigns
The government resigned from office yesterday after nationwide protests against high electricity prices. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov had tried to calm protests by sacking his finance minister, pledging to cut power prices and punish foreign-owned companies, but protests continued on Tuesday. Twenty-five people were taken to hospital after protesters clashed with police. “I will not participate in a government under which police are beating people,” Borisov said as he announced his resignation yesterday.
UNITED STATES
Gunman kills three people
A gunman killed three people in California on Tuesday, including at least one execution-style, in a series of shootings and carjackings before taking his own life, police said. At least two other people were injured as the gunman fired randomly on other vehicles on a freeway, before he shot and killed himself near the city of Orange, south of Los Angeles. The suspect was identified as 20-year-old Ali Syed, who was unemployed, had no criminal record, and was living at home with his parents and taking a class at a local college.
UNITED STATES
Shotgun is enough: Biden
Vice President Joe Biden told Americans on Tuesday that a few blasts of a shotgun should be ample for self defense, as he pushed White House gun reform plans. “If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barreled shotgun,” Biden said, on a Facebook forum hosted by Parents Magazine as he related advice he once gave to his wife, Jill, as their home in Delaware was in a secluded area. “’Jill, if there is ever a problem, walk out on the balcony, flick that double-barreled shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house.’ You don’t need an AR-15 [semi automatic rifle] ... it is harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun,” Biden said.
UNITED STATES
Gas blast sparks blaze
A gas explosion that sparked a massive, block-engulfing blaze in an upscale Kansas City shopping district injured 14 people, a city official said on Tuesday, adding that it is believed that an accident involving a utility contractor may have caused the blast.
CANADA
Montreal City Hall raided
Quebec’s anti-corruption squad on Tuesday raided Montreal City Hall, asking employees to leave the building as they searched through files. A spokeswoman for the anti-corruption unit confirmed evidence was being gathered of alleged fraud and breach of trust there, as well as at eight other locations, including the offices of several boroughs.
BELGIUM
Diamond robbers hit airport
Heavily armed robbers disguised as police made off with US$50 million worth of diamonds in a spectacular heist on the tarmac at Brussels airport that lasted about five minutes. The Monday night robbery at Zaventem Airport just before 8pm was “one of the biggest” ever, said a spokeswoman for the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, the global dealers’ syndicate. The raid saw a gang of eight hooded thieves pull up on the runway in two black vehicles with blue police-like markings, Brussels prosecutors’ spokeswoman Anja Bijnens said. They forced their way through security barriers and sped towards a Swiss passenger aircraft about to take off on the runway, forcing open the cargo hold to reach gems that had already been loaded, she said.
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
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
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