IRAN
Two missiles fired at plane
The Civil Aviation Organization on Monday confirmed that two missiles were fired at a Ukrainian airliner that was brought down earlier this month. “Investigators ... discovered that two Tor-M1 missiles ... were fired at the aircraft,” it said in a preliminary reported posted on its Web site, adding that a probe was ongoing to assess the bearing their impact had on the accident. The Tor-M1 is a short-range surface-to-air missile developed by the former Soviet Union that is designed to target aircraft or cruise missiles. The statement confirmed a report in the New York Times, which included footage appearing to show two projectiles being fired at the airliner. The Kyiv-bound Ukraine International Airlines plane was shot down in a catastrophic error shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Jan. 8, killing all 176 people on board.
INDONESIA
Five kidnapped by militants
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that five Indonesians have been kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines. The five being held hostage were among eight Indonesians on a Malaysian fishing boat that was fishing in Malaysian waters before it was seen entering Philippine waters on Thursday last week, it said in a statement. The boat was seen re-entering Malaysian waters the same day with only three people on board, who told authorities that suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen took the other five fishermen, including the captain, the ministry said, adding that it was working closely with the Philippine government to coordinate a rescue.
MEXICO
Homicides hit record
Murders rose to a new record last year — the first full year of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s presidency, posing a challenge to the popular leader to make good on a campaign promise of reducing violence. Slayings, often fueled by drug cartels, climbed to 34,582, from 33,743 a year earlier, National Public Security System data showed. The 2.5 percent rise represents the least since homicides fell in 2014 and compared with increases of 17 percent to 28 percent in the previous three years. Two high-profile episodes late last year highlighted the security challenge. In October, Lopez Obrador’s Cabinet decided to release the captured son of drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to avoid a firefight and bloodshed between authorities and criminals that the government worried would affect civilians. In November, nine members of a Mormon family with dual US-Mexican citizenship were killed in an attack by cartel gunmen.
PANAMA
Invasion victims exhumed
Authorities on Monday began exhuming a mass grave containing the remains of unknown civilians killed during the 1989 US invasion of the nation. The move follows a decades-long effort by families of missing people to identify remains buried in a common grave in the capital’s Jardin de Paz cemetery. “Finally, after 30 years, it is possible by judicial means, to recover unknown bodies buried in a common grave,” said Jose Luis Sosa, who heads a commission investigating human rights violations committed during the invasion. The exhumations follow the reopening of investigations into the circumstances in which civilians were killed during the Dec. 20, 1989, invasion. Officials said the exhumations would be carried out to identify the remains and determine the cause of death. The work is likely to take about two months.
‘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
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
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in