TURKEY
TAK claims Ankara attack
A radical Kurdish group with ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) yesterday claimed the deadly suicide car bomb attack that killed 35 people in Ankara last weekend. “On the evening of March 13, a suicide attack was carried out... in the streets of the capital of the fascist Turkish republic. We claim this attack,” the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) said in a statement on its Web site. The group said it was a response to security operations carried out by Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated southeast of the country. Sunday’s attack came three weeks after a similar car bombing in Ankara killed 29 people, also claimed by TAK.
THAILAND
PM lauds S Korean drama
A hit South Korean drama about a gun-toting soldier saving lives in a far away land has won over the mercurial junta chief, who yesterday called on citizens to watch the show. Former army chief turned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power in a 2014 coup and has often portrayed himself as an officer duty-bound to save the nation from years of political chaos, even penning two pop songs and commissioning a series of short films to spread his patriotic message. Now he has urged Thais to watch Descendants of the Sun. “What I have seen is that they have inserted a sense of patriotism, sacrifice, obeying orders and being a dutiful citizen,” he told delegates at a government function yesterday morning. “So please watch it and if anyone wants to make such a drama I will financially sponsor it to make people love government officials, uncorrupted officials and make the Thai people love each other,” he added.
JAPAN
Highway pileup kills two
A fiery pile-up inside a highway tunnel yesterday killed at least two people and left 70 needing treatment as dozens fled toxic smoke from burning vehicles, police and media said. The accident happened at about 7:30am inside the 860m Hachihonmatsu tunnel in Hiroshima Prefecture, a local police spokesman said on condition of anonymity. A truck crashed into several vehicles that were stopped inside the tunnel, causing it and at least one other vehicle to catch fire, he said. Local media said a dozen vehicles were involved, with at least five cars burning. The fire was put out a little more than two hours after the accident, the police spokesman said. Two people, including a woman, were confirmed dead, though the gender of the other fatality could not immediately be determined, the spokesman added.
THAILAND
Diamond thief turns monk
A gardener behind a US$20 million gem heist from a Saudi palace that has long soured relations between the two nations yesterday became a monk in hopes of redeeming his karma. Kriangkrai Techamong stole the precious gems from the palace of a Saudi prince where he worked in 1989, triggering a feud between Thailand and Saudi Arabia dubbed the “Blue Diamond Affair” that has yet to be resolved. Thai police later returned some of the jewels, but Saudi officials said most were counterfeits while the whereabouts of the most precious gem — a rare 50-carat blue diamond — remains unknown. Kriangkrai yesterday told local media his life has been haunted by the theft that unleashed an “avalanche” of suffering on his family. He was jailed for five years soon after the theft, but managed to sell most of the gems before his arrest.
UNITED STATES
First lady rules out race
First lady Michelle Obama showed off her vocal chops at the South by Southwest Music Festival, but drew a round of disappointed sighs on Wednesday when she told the crowd she has no plans to run for president. Obama made her debut at the Austin showcase of buzzworthy bands and technology, sitting with Grammy winners Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott to talk about girls’ education and empowerment. Obama broke into song when reflecting on seven years in the White House. She said “time is almost up” before softly singing some of the Boyz II Men hit It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday. Obama said she would most miss interacting with people as first lady, but says she has no presidential aspirations of her own. “No, no. Not going to do it,” she told the crowd. She mentioned her teenage daughters, Malia and Sasha, as two of the main reasons. “The daughters of a president. Just think about it. Come on, young people. Not so easy,” Obama said.
SOUTH AFRICA
Minister faced death threat
Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas received a death threat shortly before issuing a statement accusing a wealthy family with links to President Jacob Zuma of offering him the job of finance minister, the Business Day newspaper said yesterday. As he was preparing his bombshell statement, Jonas received a text message from a “prominent businessman” telling him to be quiet, the paper — South Africa’s main business daily — said. “Please keep your own counsel. Martyrdom is best left to Christ,” the text message read. The paper did not identify the sender.
RUSSIA
Hackers hit 13 banks
A newly discovered hacker group known as Buhtrap has attacked 13 Russian banks since August last year using malware that infiltrates their gateway to the central bank, Moscow-based cybersecurity company Group-IB said. The hackers spread the malware using infected e-mails that mimic correspondence from the central bank and Gazprombank JSC, Group- IB said in a report yesterday. The program then targets the automated bank-customer system that connects to the regulator. “This is the most critical system for Russian banks,” Dmitry Volkov, the head of Group-IB’s cyberintelligence department, said by telephone. “This is the same as if hackers were to get access to the SWIFT system at Citibank, for example.” In their biggest heist identified to date, the hackers stole 600 million rubles (US$8.65 million), the firm said.
UNITED STATES
Statue seized in New York
Federal agents seized an ancient Afghan statue from a Manhattan gallery on Wednesday morning, part of a string of seizures that began on Friday last week and have coincided with Asia Week festivities in New York. The object, identified by authorities as an eighth-century marble sculpture of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati seated on a tiger skin was taken from a gallery on East 67th Street, where it was being displayed by Leonardo Vigorelli, owner of the Milan-based Dalton Somare art gallery. Federal authorities, working in conjunction with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, wrapped the relic in protective mats and loaded it onto a moving truck. Investigators estimated its value at US$450,000. The seizures are part of Operation Hidden Idol, under which Manhattan prosecutors and Homeland Security Investigations officials have been attempting to recover items stolen from temples and other ancient sites in Asia.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was