SOUTH KOREA
Military exercise goes ahead
A major live-fire exercise was conducted yesterday near the disputed inter-Korean sea border, despite North Korea’s warning of possible “merciless” retaliation, military officials said. The drill was carried out around frontline islands in the Yellow Sea to mark the anniversary of North Korea’s deadly shelling of one of them five years ago, the defense ministry said. The attack on Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 23, 2010, killed four South Koreans, including two civilians, and sparked brief fears of a full-scale war. It was one of the most serious border incidents since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
COLOMBIA
FARC members pardoned
The government on Sunday announced that it is granting pardons to 30 jailed FARC members as a confidence-building measure in its peace talks with the leftist guerrilla group. The presidency said none of those being pardoned were in prison for serious crimes, adding that they will be helped in finding jobs and receiving social support once they leave prison. In the past week, FARC spokespeople have told local media that about 850 jailed members of the guerrilla group have been on a hunger strike in 13 prisons since Nov. 9 to press for humanitarian releases and improved prison conditions.
MEXICO
More refugees surrender
Federal officials say another group of Syrian refugees has turned themselves in to immigration authorities along the US border. The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday confirmed that the group identified themselves to border agents in the South Texas town of Laredo on Friday. The group consisted of a family of three along with two other men. They were held to check their identities against national security databases and then turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for temporary detention. Their arrival came after two Syrian families identified themselves on Tuesday last week to border officials in Laredo.
UNITED STATES
Trump plans ‘waterboarding’
Donald Trump, the leading Republican contender for the presidency, says he would return to strong interrogation techniques such as waterboarding if he were elected because their severity pales against Islamic State practices. “You know, they don’t use waterboarding over there; they use chopping off people’s heads,” Trump said on Sunday on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Waterboarding, a method of torture in which water is poured over the face of an immobilized prisoner to simulate drowning, is “peanuts” compared with that, Trump said. He said he “would absolutely bring back interrogation and strong interrogation.”
BURUNDI
Election violence continues
At least five people were killed by unidentified assailants at the weekend as violence sparked by the re-election of President Pierre Nkurunziza continued. One person was killed when a bar in the Ngagara district of the capital, Bujumbura, was attacked by gunmen late on Saturday, police spokesman Moise Nkurunziza said. Two bodies were found in the area and 27 people were arrested in connection with the raid, he said. Another unidentified body was discovered in Ruziba, southern Bujumbura, he said. National radio reported the death of a passerby when gunmen attacked a meeting of ruling party officials and residents in Kirundo Province late on Saturday.
‘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