IRAQ
Thirteen killed in protests
Thirteen anti-government protesters were on Sunday killed by security forces in one of the “worst’” days of clashes in the country’s south, as protests swept through the area, officials said. Seven protesters were killed in the southern province of Basra when Iraqi authorities used live fire and tear gas to disperse them, said security and hospital officials, who requested anonymity. One security official in Basra said it was “one of the worst” days since the start of the protest movement. Four people were killed in Nassiriya province, and one was killed in both Najaf and Diwanieh provinces.
ROMANIA
Battle to save sheep at sea
Rescuers were on Sunday struggling to save 14,600 sheep loaded on a cargo ship that capsized in the Black Sea, they said. The Queen Hind bound for Saudi Arabia overturned for yet unknown reasons shortly after leaving the Port of Midia. The crew of 20 Syrians and one Lebanese were rescued, together with 32 sheep, two of which were pulled from the water, said Ana-Maria Stoica, a spokeswoman for the rescue services. “The rescue operation is ongoing... We hope that the sheep inside the ship’s hold are still alive,” she said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Assange ‘could die’ in jail
More than 60 doctors wrote an open letter published yesterday saying they feared Julian Assange’s health was so bad that the WikiLeaks founder “could die” inside HM Prison Belmarsh. In the letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, the doctors called for Assange to be moved to a university teaching hospital. They based their assessment on “harrowing eyewitness accounts” of his Oct. 21 court appearance in London and a Nov. 1 report by Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
KENYA
Sixty killed in flooding
The death toll from flooding in the west of the country has risen to 60 and seven others are missing, authorities said. A West Pokot County government official, who requested anonymity, said on Sunday that 53 people had died, mostly in mudslides in Saturday’s deluge. She said seven people were reported missing. Officials said that another five people were swept away while traveling in a vehicle. Two other people were killed when a river burst its banks.
DR CONGO
Dozens die in plane crash
At least 29 people were killed on Sunday when a small plane crashed after takeoff into a densely populated area of Goma. A survivor among the 19 people — 17 passengers and two crew members — who were aboard the plane was taken to hospital along with 16 others injured on the ground, the North Kivu regional government said. The Busy Bee Dornier-228’s pilot “failed in his takeoff,” Nord Kivu Governor Carly Nzanzu Kasivita said in a statement. One of the airline’s maintenance workers at the site, quoted by news site actualite.cd, blamed a “technical problem.”
UNITED STATES
Bloomberg to run in election
Billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has formally launched a Democratic bid for president. Ending weeks of speculation, the 77-year-old former Republican on Sunday announced his candidacy in a written statement posted on a campaign Web site describing himself as uniquely positioned to defeat President Donald Trump.
‘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