CAMEROON
Tens killed in minority region
Twenty-two people have been killed in clashes with the army in Cameroon, an opposition lawmaker said on Saturday, in the latest violence to hit the country’s restive northwest, where separatists from the English-speaking minority are fighting for greater autonomy. The identity of those killed was not immediately clear, with the army describing them as “terrorists” and villagers saying they were criminals. The clashes come after the US Ambassador to Cameroon Peter Barlerin earlier this month accused government forces of carrying out targeted killings and other abuses in the fight against the independence-seeking militants.
PAKISTAN
Police kill bombing suspects
Police said that they have killed six “terrorists” behind a bomb attack in Lahore last year. Police spokesman Salim Khan said that counterterrorism police ambushed the suspected militants early yesterday as they were traveling on motorcycles near Gujrat, setting off a shoot-out in which three of the men escaped. He said they were members of the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group and were behind a bombing in Lahore last year that killed 26 people, including nine police. Police seized weapons and explosive vests from the scene of the raid, he said.
JAPAN
Eighties PM turns 100
Former prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, one of the country’s most prominent former leaders, has turned 100. As a World War II naval officer, he witnessed the depth of Japan’s defeat and devastation. He served as premier in the 1980s at the pinnacle of the country’s economic success. In recent years, he has lobbied for revision of the war-renouncing, US-drafted constitution, a longtime cause that neither he nor his successors have achieved. His office said that Nakasone, cared for by his daughter at their Tokyo home, is slowing down, but in fine health. In a written statement marking his birthday yesterday, Nakasone said that he is “blissful” to have worked for Japan’s postwar reconstruction and witnessed success.
EGYPT
YouTube ordered blocked
Egypt’s top administrative court on Saturday ordered authorities to block YouTube in the country for a month, after a years-long appeals process over a film denigrating the prophet Mohammed, a judicial official said. A lower court ordered that the Web site be blocked in 2013 after it carried the video Innocence of Muslims, but the case was appealed by the Egyptian National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and its ruling was stayed. The 2012 amateurish film depicts Mohammed as a buffoon and a pedophile, and sparked a wave of angry anti-American protests across the Middle East in which more than 30 people were killed.
QATAR
Saudi, UAE products banned
The government has ordered shops to remove goods originating from a group of Saudi Arabian-led countries, which a year ago imposed a wide-ranging boycott on the emirate, Doha officials said on Saturday. A directive from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce ordered shops to immediately strip shelves of products from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. Inspectors are to visit stores to ensure that they comply with the order, the ministry said. The government said it would also try and stop products such as Saudi dairy goods from entering Qatar via third countries.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia