BOLIVIA
Carnival bomb kills four
A bomb caused an explosion that killed four people and wounded 10 during carnival celebrations, authorities said on Wednesday. The blast occurred late on Tuesday in the city of Oruro, the capital of President Evo Morales’ home province. Police General Faustino Mendoza told reporters the bomb was made of dynamite, ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, all commonly used in homemade explosives. He added that the blast dug a crater nearly 1.3m wide and 43cm deep. On Saturday night, an explosion along the carnival route two blocks from Tuesday’s attack killed eight and injured 40. Police had blamed the first explosion on a food vendor’s gas canister, but said they were re-evaluating that in the wake of the second attack. Officials said three people had been detained for questioning in the second explosion.
CHINA
Jiangsu reports bird flu
The nation has reported the first human case of the H7N4 strain of bird flu in a woman in an eastern coastal province, though she has since recovered. In a statement late on Wednesday, the Hong Kong government’s Centre for Health Protection said it had been informed of the case by mainland China’s health ministry, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which said it was the first case of human infection with the H7N4 strain in the world. It involved a 68-year-old woman in Jiangsu Province who developed symptoms on Dec. 25, was admitted to hospital on Jan. 1 and discharged on Jan. 22. “She had contact with live poultry before the onset of symptoms. All her close contacts did not have any symptoms during the medical surveillance period,” the Hong Kong government said. Since 2013, at least 600 people have died in China and more than 1,500 people have fallen sick as a result of H7N9 bird flu virus.
MEXICO
Presidential hopeful hurt
An indigenous woman who is running for president was injured on Wednesday and a member of her campaign was killed when the van transporting them ran off the road, her party said. Maria de Jesus Patricio, who is known to supporters as “Marichuy,” has been touring the nation trying to collect the signatures needed to become the first indigenous woman to make it onto the presidential ballot. The accident happened in a remote region of the state of Baja California Sur. Patricio has apparently broken her left arm and is being airlifted to the state capital, La Paz, state health minister Victor George Flores said. President Enrique Pena Nieto sent his sympathies.
UNITED STATES
Baio denies sex misconduct
A spokesman for Scott Baio said the actor denies “each and every one” of the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by two of his former co-stars on the TV show Charles in Charge. Brian Glicklich read a statement from the actor at a news conference on Wednesday held in response to new allegations disclosed by actor Alexander Polinsky. An attorney for Baio, Jennifer McGrath, characterized the claims made by Polinsky and actress Nicole Eggert as “ever-changing” and evidence of a “hunger for publicity.” Baio live-streamed the news conference on his Facebook page, but did not attend. Glicklich and McGrath said the actor was at a school party with his daughter. Polinsky said Baio exposed himself and talked about gay sex acts with the young actor. Eggert said Baio sexually assaulted her when she was a minor while they worked together on the hit show.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing