AFGHANISTAN
Blasts kill eight, wound 45
Eight people were killed and 45 wounded in a series of explosions targeting a cricket match in eastern Jalalabad, officials said yesterday, the first attack since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began. The blasts were triggered among spectators crowded into the stadium at about 11pm on Friday evening as they watched the local “Ramadan Cup,” the provincial governor’s office said. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban said they were not responsible in a WhatsApp message. President Ashraf Ghani yesterday condemned the attack. “The terrorists did not stop killing our people, even during the holy month of Ramadan... By carrying out a terrorist attack in a populated sport stadium, once again they have proved that they are not bound to any creed or religion, and they are the enemy of humanity,” a statement from his office said.
CAMBODIA
Lightning kills five people
Five people, including a four-year-old, were killed instantly in a lightning strike, officials said on Friday, as the onset of the rainy season draws near. The group was sheltering from a downpour in a mountainous area of Koh Kong Province’s Thmar Baing District on Thursday, police chief for minor crimes Lay Meng Laing told reporters, adding that three victims were from the same family. The number of lightning deaths has now reached 50 people since January, compared with 41 killed in the same period last year, National Committee for Disaster Management spokesman Keo Vy said. The government had conducted education seminars to warn residents in rural areas about the threats, encouraging them to avoid taking shelter under a tree and not to stand in pools of water, he said. The strikes also hit livestock, killing 36 cows since January, he added.
SOUTH SUDAN
Rebels free hundreds of kids
The UN said more than 200 children have been released by armed groups. UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq on Friday told reporters that a release ceremony was the third this year, bringing the total number of children released this year to 806. “Additional releases are expected in the coming months that could result in more than 1,000 children being freed,” Haq said. The 210 children released included three girls and largely came from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, with eight associated with the National Salvation Front, he said. At the release ceremony on Thursday, the children were formally disarmed and given civilian clothes, Haq said. Once reunited, the children and their families are to be provided with three months of food, vocational training and education, he added.
VENEZUELA
Prison riot leaves 11 dead
Human rights advocates said 11 people died in a prison riot sparked by inmates who wrestled a gun from jailers, prompting an exchange of gunfire. Prisoner rights group A Window on Liberty on Friday reported that two guards and nine inmates died on Thursday in the city of Barquisimeto; 28 people were injured. Jailers have retaken control of Fenix Penitentiary, group director Carlos Nieto said. It was the nation’s second such incident of unrest in two days. Inmates, including jailed Utah native Joshua Holt, on Tuesday mounted a protest at a jail in the capital, Caracas, and posted urgent messages on social media saying that their lives were in danger. Nobody died in that incident.
‘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
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
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