INDIA/PAKISTAN
Border firing kills eight
Cross-border firing between India and Pakistan killed at least eight people yesterday, the day India marked the 50th anniversary of a war between the two nations. On the Pakistani side of the frontier, five civilians were killed and 48 were treated for wounds in hospital in the town of Sialkot, a spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers said. India’s Border Security Force (BSF) said three civilians had died and 22 were wounded in firing across the frontier in the northern Jammu region. Both said the other side had opened fire first. “Pakistan Rangers resorted to unprovoked firing. Initially, small arms were used but later mortar bombs were shelled on BSF posts and civilian areas,” a BSF spokesman said. “The BSF also gave a fitting reply.” Pakistan Rangers spokesman Major Waheed Bukhari gave a different account, saying that unprovoked firing had started overnight from the Indian side. It was followed by retaliation from the Rangers.
VIETNAM
Thousands to be released
The government yesterday said it would free almost 18,300 prisoners to mark independence day celebrations, but political activists will be excluded from the nation’s second biggest-ever amnesty. The detainees will be released in batches starting from Monday ahead of the 70th National Day anniversary on Wednesday. “The president has decided to give amnesty to 18,298 prisoners... but none of them have committed crimes against national security,” Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Quy Vuong told a press conference in Hanoi. The prisoners to be freed had been sentenced to a range of crimes including murder, drug and people-trafficking and bribery. However, no one sentenced for “propaganda” against the state or attempting to overthrow the regime — charges frequently used against activists — were among the list to be released. The amnesty includes 34 foreigners: six Laotians, one Cambodian, one Thai, two Australians, 16 Chinese, six Malaysians and two Filipinos.
MYANMAR
Airport project delayed
A long-delayed international airport project has been postponed again, by four years this time, because of a delay in securing funds, state media and an official source said yesterday. A South Korean company first planned to build the Hanthawaddy International Airport on an old World War II Japanese airfield near the town of Bago, about 100km north of Yangon. However, the project was abandoned in 1994, soon after a groundbreaking ceremony. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the nation’s fourth international airport was now expected to open in seven years. A senior transport ministry official confirmed the project had been delayed because of a difficulty in seeking fund.
IRAQ
PM orders easier access
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi yesterday ordered military commanders to make it easier for civilians to get into Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone while improving access to streets across the country closed off by political and security factions. Militias, political parties and influential figures have created many no-go areas in Baghdad and other cities in response to waves of car bombings since the US-led invasion to topple former president Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Green Zone is a heavily defended district in central Baghdad that is home to many government buildings and several Western embassies. Ahead of fresh street protests expected in the capital and southern cities yesterday, Abadi ordered commanders to implement a plan “to protect civilians ... from being targeted by terrorism,” according to online statements.
MEXICO
ATT lacks reporting rules
Countries backing a major accord to regulate the international arms industry on Thursday failed to agree on a definitive format for reporting arms sales, kicking the issue down the road and disappointing advocates of arms control. Officials from 121 governments have been meeting in Cancun to agree details of how the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) will oversee the multibillion-dollar industry. However, on the final day of the first conference, officials resolved only to work together over coming months on crafting a lasting template for reporting sales. For the ATT to be effective, say arms control groups, there must be full disclosure of weapons sales, but the issue is contentious and officials had already suggested that reaching agreement might prove impossible at the inaugural conference.
UNITED STATES
Vegas canal dive injures two
Two men jumped into a canal at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and, because they could not swim, had to be rescued and hospitalized, a spokesman for the hotel said on Thursday. The disturbance on Monday morning at the Venetian, which is located on the Las Vegas Strip and draws many tourists for its gondola rides inspired by the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, was first reported on Thursday. The two men were caught on hotel surveillance cameras jumping over the fence that surrounds the hotel’s canal along Las Vegas Boulevard, hotel spokesman Keith Salwoski said in an e-mail. “Apparently, the individuals were unable to swim and were pulled from the water,” he said. The two individuals were transported in critical condition by ambulance to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, Clark County Fire Department Deputy Chief Jeff Buchanan said. He could not share any details on their latest condition. It was unclear what led the men to jump into the canal.
UNITED STATES
Bison gores conservationist
The head of a conservation group has been gored by a bison on Santa Catalina Island, off the California coast. Forty-three-year-old Chris Baker was airlifted to a hospital on Wednesday after the attack near the Two Harbors area. Baker is president and chief executive of the American Conservation Experience. The Flagstaff, Arizona-based group said Baker was doing field work for a new trail system when he turned a corner and found the bison in front of him. The group said the animal charged Baker. He then walked a half a kilometer on a hiking path until he saw three off-duty firefighters. The group said Baker is recovering from moderate injuries.
‘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