SOUTH AFRICA
Pistorius trial adjourned
The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius was adjourned yesterday until April 7, when the Paralympian is expected to take the stand in his own defense in a bid to prove his innocence and avoid life in prison. Judge Thokozile Masipa postponed proceedings for more than a week due to the illness of one of the judge’s legal assistants in one of the most high-profile trials in the country’s history. Prosecutors took 15 days to lay out their case against the 27-year-old, arguing he deliberately killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year by firing four rounds from a 9mm pistol through a closed toilet door.
TURKEY
Defense official sacked
Turkey has removed undersecretary of national defense Murad Bayar from his post with immediate effect, the official gazette said on Thursday. The ministry did not give a reason for the decision. Bayar had been influential in Ankara’s negotiations with Beijing over the procurement of a missile defense system. Turkey’s NATO allies voiced concern when it said in September last year that it had chosen China’s FD-2000 missile defense system over rival offers from the Franco-Italian Eurosam SAMP/T and US-listed Raytheon Co. It said China had offered the most competitive terms and would allow co-production in Turkey.
THAILAND
Anti-graft body attacked
Police say a grenade was thrown into the anti-corruption office in what apparently was the latest in a string of politically related attacks. Police General Ake Angsananont said a building in the compound was slightly damaged, but there were no injuries from the incident, which occurred on Thursday night at the National Anti-Corruption Commission in Nonthaburi Province, outside Bangkok. Police seized a cache of weapons and arrested four pro-government protesters during an overnight raid at a house close to the office. They were investigating whether those arrested were linked to the attack. The commission has accused Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of negligence in failing to prevent corruption and massive losses in the government’s rice subsidy scheme. Yingluck is due to submit her defense to the agency on Monday.
IRAQ
UN says 400,000 displaced
UN envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov says about 400,000 people have been displaced this year by ongoing violence, and the UN Security Council is expressing “grave concern” about recent developments, particularly in Ramadi and Fallujah. Mladenov also warned the council on Thursday that without more funding, the UN “very soon will be unable to continue its humanitarian assistance to those fleeing the fighting in Anbar.” Islamic militants took control of Fallujah, a main city in western, Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, in December.
MEXICO
Ten killed in shootout
Soldiers and police killed 10 Zetas drug cartel suspects in a gunfight that erupted on Thursday in the eastern state of Veracruz, authorities said. The clash erupted after security forces were shot at from a house as they searched for a kidnapping gang while driving down an avenue in the city of Perote, the Veracruz state public security agency said. “As a result of this clash, nine men and one woman were killed,” the agency said. Authorities said the suspects were part of a Zetas unit dedicated to kidnapping and one of the cartel’s most dangerous cells. Authorities seized 10 rifles, munitions, shirts with federal police insignias and hats with the shield of an investigative unit, the statement said.
UNITED STATES
US Navy identifies killer
The US Navy on Thursday identified the civilian who killed a sailor aboard a destroyer in Virginia this week, saying he stripped a guard of his gun before opening fire. The incident has raised fresh questions about security at military installations after a shooting rampage in September last year at the Washington Navy Yard, when a civilian contractor killed 12 people. Authorities said Jeffery Savage, 35, a truck driver who had driven his vehicle on to the Norfolk naval base on Monday, tried to board the USS Mahan, but was told to stop and confronted by security officers. “A struggle occurred and Savage was able to disarm the petty officer of the watch,” a statement said. Savage used the gun to kill Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Mark Mayo, before other security guards shot him dead, it said.
UNITED STATES
Peanut butter to be dumped
Nearly a million jars of untainted peanut butter are being dumped at a New Mexico landfill. The US$2.6 million worth of peanut butter is being hauled to a landfill this week to expedite the sale of bankrupt Sunland Inc, a peanut-processing plant in Portales that was at the heart of a 2012 salmonella outbreak and nationwide recall. Bankruptcy trustee Clarke Coll says the peanut butter was produced for Costco Wholesale before the plant shut in fall last year, but Costco refused to take shipment of the product and it declined requests to let it be donated to food banks, repackaged or sold to brokers who provide food products to institutions such as prisons, even though tests showed it was safe.
UNITED STATES
Officers sacked for cheating
The US Air Force said on Thursday it had sacked nine nuclear missile officers and would discipline dozens of others over an exam cheating scandal that has sparked concerns about lax ethics. The officers, including chiefs of four squadrons, were all working at Malmstrom Air Force base in Montana, which has been rocked by cheating allegations that implicated up to 100 airmen. An internal investigation had found that commanders had not engaged in any cheating, but had “failed to provide adequate oversight of their crew force.”
UNITED STATES
Baggage handlers arrested
Police said a US$15,000 camera, Gucci bags and brand-name clothing and jewelry were among the thousands of dollars in valuables stolen by baggage handlers at Los Angeles International Airport. Los Angeles Police Captain Raymond Maltez said on Thursday that while some thieves worked together, most acted on their own, seizing opportunities to pocket items from luggage in transit. He said there was a culture of acceptance of theft among the baggage handlers. Six people have been arrested.
‘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