AFGHANISTAN
Americans killed in attack
A policeman yesterday opened fire on staff at a Kabul hospital run by a US charity, killing three US citizens in the latest deadly attack targeting foreign civilians in the capital. The gunman was injured in the incident outside the CURE International hospital and detained by police, officials said, adding that the motive behind the shooting was not immediately known. “The attacker was a member of the police in the district,” interior ministry spokesman Seddiq Sediqqi said. “He opened fire as the foreign nationals were entering the hospital, tragically killing three and injuring one more. Another policeman in the area shot the attacker, injuring him.” A medic said that a foreign doctor was among the dead.
MALAYSIA
Second plane turns back
A Malaysia Airlines plane’s wheels refused to stow after take off yesterday, forcing a second flight by the carrier to turn back in four days as it continues to reel from the loss of Flight MH370. A plane belonging to its subsidiary, Firefly Airlines, departed Penang International Airport at 6:55am and turned back 15 minutes after because the aircraft’s landing gear could not retract. “As safety is of utmost priority to Firefly Airlines, the aircraft was required to turn back to Penang,” Firefly said in a statement. “The crew handled the situation very professionally,” said a passenger quoted by Malaysiakini, a Malaysian news Web site.
HONG KONG
Murder appeal rejected
The Court of Final Appeal yesterday rejected a final bid for an appeal by Nancy Kissel of the US, who was convicted of drugging her wealthy banker husband and bashing him to death. Kissel was convicted twice for the 2003 murder of her husband, Robert Kissel. The case, dubbed the “Milkshake Murder,” grabbed world headlines with its lurid tale of the breakdown of a wealthy expatriate marriage in the territory. She was sentenced to life in 2012, matching the result of an earlier trial that was overturned. Prosecutors said Nancy Kissel, a housewife, gave her husband a sedative-laced milkshake and then bludgeoned him with a metal ornament before wrapping up his body in a carpet.
PHILIPPINES
Airline quits flying shark fins
Philippine Airlines (PAL) said yesterday it has stopped flying shark fin cargoes, joining several other Asia-Pacific carriers in taking a stand for marine conservation. The fins are used in shark fin soup, a much-valued delicacy in Hong Kong and China. Conservationists say booming demand for such fins has put pressure on the world’s shark populations. “PAL values the issue on protection and conservation of endangered marine life seriously, recognizing that the company’s long-term interest is and should be consistent with sustainable and responsible business practices,” a PAL statement said.
NIGERIA
Rapist faces stoning
An Islamic court has sentenced a man to be stoned to death for raping a 13-year-old girl and infecting her with HIV. Such sentences under Shariah laws have been passed before, but never carried out. Past sentences have been commuted to life in prison. The defendant, Ubale Saidu Dotsa, 63, testified on Wednesday that the devil instigated him to have sex with the girl. He said he did not know he was infected with HIV, and that the teenager tempted him by visiting his shop often at night. Magistrate Faruk Ahmed said Dotsa was a married man who had committed adultery.
CANADA
Tanker cars to be phased out
Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt on Wednesday announced the phasing out or retro-fitting of substandard tanker cars used to transport flammable liquids, in response to a deadly derailment in Quebec last year. Raitt said the “least crash-resistant” DOT 111 tanker cars that have no continuous reinforcement of their bottom shell will be taken out of service within 30 days. There are about 5,000 of them in North America. Another 65,000 DOT 111 tanker cars that do not meet tougher standards for new models “must be phased out or retrofitted within three years if they are to be used for transportation of crude oil or ethanol,” Raitt told a press conference. Large swaths of the picturesque town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, were reduced to rubble after a runaway freight train carrying fuel crashed and derailed in July last year.
CANADA
Feud with France over isles
A longstanding feud over two French islands near the nation’s Atlantic coast was rekindled on Wednesday, when Ottawa contested Paris’ request that the UN recognize its control of waters around Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon. At stake in the dispute are potential oil reserves beneath the seabed and fishing rights. France had filed an application with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf last week, seeking a vast economic zone around the islands’ coastlines. However, Ottawa had already filed an overlapping claim, and on Wednesday it vowed to fight France’s efforts to extend its territory in North America. Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon are the only remnants of France’s former colonial empire in North America still under French control. Their population was last recorded at 6,000 in 2011.
UNITED STATES
Oregon probes bee deaths
Oregon agriculture authorities are investigating the mysterious deaths of potentially thousands of honeybees along a highway, the second die-off of bees in the state in less than a year. A witness told a news station thousands of dead bees were found on Sunday. Pokarney said there was no indication the honeybees in Sherwood were harmed by pesticides.
ISRAEL
Psychic stars in disaster ads
Celebrity psychic Uri Geller is the beaming new face of the country’s disaster-readiness, starring in army-sponsored TV and Internet advertisements on how to take shelter from missile attacks or earthquakes. Launched on Wednesday, the campaign marks Geller’s return to his native country from Britain and aims to keep the public vigilant, though fears of any imminent war with Iran, Syria or Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas have receded. The entertainer is best known for mentalist tricks, such as bending spoons.
UNITED STATES
Ship that sank in 1888 found
The wreckage of a passenger steamship that sank in the 19th century after a collision in the San Francisco Bay has been found near the Golden Gate Bridge, officials said on Wednesday. The City of Chester was discovered by researchers using sonar in waters about 66m deep. It was encased in mud. The ship, which was heading up the California coast to the city of Eureka, was nearly cut in half by the steamer Oceanic in August 1888. Sixteen people were killed. The collision fueled a racially charged backlash against the Oceanic’s mostly Chinese crew, despite their having rescued most of the City of Chester’s 106 passengers, Maritime Heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration director James Delgado said.
‘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
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
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