BULGARIA
Refugees found in truck
About 130 refugees — most believed to be Syrian — were discovered on Saturday in a refrigerated truck on the Bulgarian border with Turkey, the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior said, adding that the driver was arrested. A ministry spokeswoman said 38 men, 33 women and 58 children were found hidden behind bottles of sparkling water at the border crossing of Kapitan-Andreevo, adding that their state of health was not a cause for concern. The refugees’ attempt to flee their homeland recalled a case with a more tragic outcome in August when 71 migrants were found to have frozen to death in a refrigerated truck designed to carry frozen food after traffickers abandoned the vehicle in Austria.
UNITED STATES
Colorado shooter kills four
A shooting rampage in Colorado Springs on Saturday left four people dead, including the assailant, who was gunned down after the authorities said the person fired at officers. The authorities in Colorado Springs said that gunfire was reported shortly after 8:30am in a largely residential area east of downtown. When officers encountered the suspect, the person had moved just under 1km away to an intersection with fast-food restaurants, businesses and a high school campus. The suspect began shooting at the officers, several of whom returned fire. The authorities said the assailant’s motive was unclear. Police officials have not released any information about the suspect, including name or sex, although a witness described the assailant as a man in his 20s or 30s. Officials have also not released information about the three other people who were killed. Officials said the shootings involved a number of crime scenes, and hours later, several streets were blocked off.
Azerbaijan
Votes cast in one-sided poll
Polls opened yersteray in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan in a parliamentary election widely expected to cement strongman President Ilham Aliyev’s grip on power and boycotted by major opposition forces. The opposition and international rights groups have criticized the vote as biased, accusing the government of jailing political opponents under trumped-up charges while their limiting parties’ ability to campaign. The tightly controlled Caucasus nation’s leading opposition parties, including the National Council of Democratic Forces, Musavat party, and the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, have denounced the polls as an “imitation” and refused to stand. However, the ruling Aliyev’s Yeni (New) Azerbaijan party, which faces little challenge from the embattled opposition and is set to easily retain its majority in the legislature, has vowed the elections would be fully democratic.
IRAN
Leader warns of US imports
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned against importing consumer goods from the US as the Islamic republic prepares for the lifting of sanctions under a landmark nuclear deal. Khamenei’s Web site yesterday quoted him as advising authorities to “be watchful about irregular imports after lifting sanctions and seriously avoid importing consumer goods from the United States.” Iran’s imports from the US reportedly reached US$140 million in the first half of this year, about 60 percent higher than in the same period last year. The imports mainly consist of medical devices, food and seeds.
‘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