CHINA
US first lady touts freedom
US first lady Michelle Obama told an audience of college students in Beijing yesterday that open access to information — especially online — is a universal right. However, she stopped short of calling on China to offer its citizens greater freedoms during a visit in which she is expected to steer clear of more complicated political issues, but rather try to build goodwill through soft diplomacy. “It is so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the Internet and through the media,” Obama said told an audience of about 200 US and Chinese students at Peking University. “My husband and I are on the receiving end of plenty of questioning and criticism from our media and our fellow citizens, and it’s not always easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,” she said.
AUSTRALIA
Five killed in aircraft crash
A light aircraft used for skydiving crashed in an airfield in the east of the country yesterday and burst into flames, killing all five people on board, police said. The plane veered left shortly after taking off from the Caboolture airstrip, 50km north of Brisbane, before plunging to the ground. “We have a pilot and there were four skydivers on board and they were the only five people that were on board,” Queensland police superintendent Michael Brady told Sky News. Brady said a male pilot, two skydiving instructors and two skydivers including a woman were on board, but could not confirm reports that their family members were watching as the plane plummeted to the ground.
INDONESIA
Suspected extremists held
Police arrested three suspected lslamic extremists after intercepting a bomb shipment that authorities said was intended to attack brothels. Among those arrested last week was Ambo Intang, who was sought for his alleged involvement in the 2012 killings of two policemen in the Central Sulawesi District of Poso, national police spokesman Major General Ronny Sompie said. An antiterrorism squad had earlier detained two other suspects. One of them was identified as Bambang Aribowo, who was arrested upon arrival at Jakarta’s airport. Sompie said police intercepted a shipment containing two homemade bombs that was sent from the East Java town of Trenggalek to Makassar. Police said the group was led by the nation’s most wanted terrorist suspect, Abu Wardah Santoso. He is sought in connection with several attacks on Java Island and Poso in Central Sulawesi Province and faces charges of running a terrorist training camp.
PAKISTAN
Smuggling eyed in crash
A collision involving two trucks and two passenger buses on a coastal highway in Balochistan Province, near Gadani, yesterday killed 35 people and injured 20 passengers, police said. A bus bound for the port city of Karachi first collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction, said Ahmed Nawaz, the area’s police chief. Nawaz said the second bus and truck then piled up onto the two vehicles and all caught fire, reportedly because the buses were also smuggling Iranian gasoline and diesel-filled canisters on board. He said 25 people were reported to have died at the scene, while 30 injured victims were taken out of the destroyed and burned buses. Most of the victims, including women and children, were severely burned and were transported to Karachi.
YEMEN
Rebel-army clashes kill 12
Twelve people were killed yesterday in clashes between government forces and Shiite rebels on the outskirts of Amran, a local official and tribal sources said. The rebels, known as Huthis or Ansarullah, had travelled to Amran to take part in a demonstration, but shooting erupted when they insisted on crossing a checkpoint to the northern entrance to the city with their weapons, an official said. Eight rebels were among the dead, as well as two soldiers and two civilians, the sources said. A security official in Sana’a said orders have been given to prevent Huthis from entering Amran, as the army sent reinforcements. The military also set up more checkpoints around the city as rebels tried to enter from the east and west, sources said. Last week, Huthis armed with rifles paraded through Amran alongside vehicles fitted with rocket launchers, demanding the sacking of the “corrupt government.”
SYRIA
Syriac Orthodox leader dies
Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas has died at the age of 80. State news agency SANA said the leader of one of world’s oldest Christian sects was admitted into a German hospital on Feb. 20 and passed away on Friday after a long illness. Iwas’ Syriac Orthodox Church was founded in 452 after a schism with the bulk of the world’s Christians and has more than 4 million members across Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, with significant communities in Germany, Sweden and in the US. Iwas was born in Mosul, Iraq, and enthroned as patriarch in 1980 at St George’s Patriarchal Cathedral in Damascus, where he conducted services in Syriac, a modern version of Aramaic. Church officials said his remains will be brought to Lebanon before being taken to Syria for burial.
ISRAEL
Israel army raid turns deadly
Israeli troops yesterday killed three Palestinians in an early-morning raid at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank that sparked clashes with protesters, Palestinian officials said. Medical and security sources said two of the fatalities were militants and the third a civilian. They said 14 Palestinians were wounded, with two reportedly in critical condition. The military confirmed the incident, but said four Palestinians died. It said the raid was aimed at arresting Hamza Abu el-Heija, a Hamas operative wanted for links to shootings and bombings against Israelis. Palestinians officials said the Israeli military ringed a house in the camp overnight and ordered el-Heija outside. When he refused, soldiers stormed the house and a shootout ensued, the officials said. “Other gunmen gathered around the house” to help el-Heija, including Mohammad Abu Zena, 19, an Islamic militant who was killed along with el-Heija, the medical and security sources said. The army said a “violent riot” then broke out, during which three Palestinians were killed.
LIBYA
Troops fight oil port rebels
Troops fought with rebels occupying oil ports yesterday after fighters attacked an army base where military reinforcements were preparing an offensive to break the blockade, residents said. Anti-aircraft gunfire and explosions were heard late at night and again after dawn in Ajdabiya, the hometown of rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran. The central government gave Jathran a two-week deadline on March 12 to end a blockade of three oil ports or face a military attack. Yesterday, troops loyal to Jathran attacked an army camp which was been reinforced after Tripoli issued its threat, local residents said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia