AUSTRALIA
Surfer mauled by shark
A surfer was severely mauled by a shark off Scotts Head Beach, officials said yesterday. The 36-year-old suffered a severe injury to his lower right leg, a New South Wales Ambulance spokesman said. “He had five deep lacerations and he suffered a lot of blood loss.” He was in the water with several other surfers when he disappeared, Surf Life Saving NSW said. “One of them has seen him disappear under the water, with a flume of water spraying up and then the victim has lifted his arm up to indicate he was having a problem,” Surf Life Saving spokeswoman Donna Wishart told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
BANGLADESH
Opposition roundup decried
The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party yesterday said nearly 2,000 of its supporters have been arrested on trumped-up charges in a crackdown aimed at derailing its campaign just weeks from a general election. At least 1,972 party officials and grassroots members have been detained since the election was announced last month and most are still being held, it said. At least 11 candidates had also been detained before today’s start of official campaigning, it said.
PAKISTAN
Six hurt in Karachi blast
Police say a blast late on Saturday night targeting a religious gathering of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement wounded six people in Karachi. No one has claimed responsibility and authorities say all of the wounded are listed in stable condition. The movement party represents the Urdu-speaking population and its two factions have an uneasy relationship with each other.
MOROCCO
Cocaine haul seized
Authorities on Saturday said that they had seized more than 1 tonne of cocaine and detained seven people suspected of smuggling the narcotic from South America. The Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation said the cocaine was found in a truck along with two dinghies near the port city of El Jadida, according to a statement carried by the official Maghreb Arab Press agency. Seven citizens were arrested “for their alleged links to a transnational criminal network involved in the international trafficking of cocaine between Morocco, Latin America and Europe,” it said. Initial information suggested the drugs had been shipped on a commercial vessel before being transferred onto a fishing boat and brought ashore, officials said.
NIGERIA
Three killed in firefight
Soldiers intercepted a column of Boko Haram fighters on Friday near a military base in the northeast, triggering a fierce battle that killed three civilians and injured a soldier, security sources said. A member of a civilian militia said the militants fired at troops with anti-aircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenades during the clash in Jakana village, about 30km from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri. “It was an intense fight. Our troops saw them passing near the village and confronted them,” a senior military officer said. “The terrorists were obviously heading toward the bush to congregate and launch an attack somewhere.”
KENYA
IED blast injures three
Three people were injured by an explosion on a highway in the northeast on Saturday. “There was an IED [improvised explosive device] incident ... involving a civilian truck ferrying merchandise,” said Joseph Kanyiri, a government administrator in the area,
‘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