PAKISTAN
Rights lawyer Jehangir dies
Prominent right activist and lawyer Asma Jehangir died on Sunday in Lahore of a heart attack at the age of 66, her daughter said. Jehangir suffered a heart attack late on Saturday night and was rushed to hospital, where she died early on Sunday, her daughter Munizae said. News of her death shook political, social and media circles, as well as government ranks. She served as chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and was widely respected for her outspoken criticism of the nation’s militant and extreme Islamist groups and unparalleled record as rights activist. She was also a UN rapporteur on human right and extrajudicial killings and on Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential women.
TONGA
Cyclone prompts curfew
The government yesterday declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in the capital, Nuku’alofa, as the kingdom braced for a direct hit from Tropical Cyclone Gita. The cyclone has already created havoc in Samoa and is threatening to become a Category Five storm before reaching the nation last night. Truckloads of troops were helping people batten down as the capital prepared for the cyclone and evacuation centers were opened across the kingdom.
CHINA
Tanker spill sparks inferno
A stretch of the Beijing-Harbin Expressway in Hebei Province was transformed into a raging inferno on Sunday after an overturned tanker coated the road in liquid natural gas. Dashcam footage from a passing car shows a blue sedan bursting into flames just moments after the driver pulled onto the shoulder behind the tanker. As he pulls over, the entire length of road turns into a sea of flame, engulfing another car and incinerating trees and bushes edging the road. The car filming the scene quickly reversed, trying to escape the surging flames. Two people were seriously burned and another six sustained light injuries, media reports said.
UNITED STATES
Power loss in Puerto Rico
An explosion and fire at an electric substation threw much of northern Puerto Rico into darkness late on Sunday in a setback for the territory’s efforts to fully restore power more than five months after Hurricane Maria. The island’s Electric Power Authority said several municipalities were without power, including parts of the capital, San Juan, but they were optimistic it could be restored within a day as they worked to repair a substation that controls voltage. It was not immediately known what caused Sunday’s fire, which was quickly extinguished.
AUSTRALIA
Cruise sunk by bottle hit
A P&O cruise ship was forced to return to Sydney after a brawl over a toilet line, with a Russian woman charged yesterday with allegedly attacking a man with an empty wine bottle. A fight broke out between several men in the early hours of Sunday morning as they waited in line to use a bathroom. “During the fight, a 37-year-old woman, who is the partner of one of the men, allegedly struck a 21-year-old man on the head with an empty wine bottle, causing a laceration,” New South Wales police said. “Security separated the men and they were detained.” The ship, which was reportedly on a three-day voyage, steamed back to Sydney where six men and the woman were met by police. The men were subsequently released pending further inquiries, while the woman was charged with reckless wounding and affray.
‘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