CAMBODIA
Foreigners arrested at party
Ten foreigners have been arrested for “singing and dancing pornographically,” police said yesterday, as the kingdom cracks down on racy behavior at popular tourist sites. The group, which could face up to a year in prison on pornography charges, was due in court this morning after police made the arrests on Thursday at a villa in Siem Reap. Duong Thavry, who heads the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department in Siem Reap, said that some of those arrested were expatriates and others were tourists who had been in the country for several months. The national police said on its Web site that authorities had arrested six British nationals, two Canadians, one New Zealander and one more person.
PAKISTAN
French mountaineer rescued
An elite group of climbers have saved a French mountaineer in a daring high-altitude rescue mission on Nanga Parbat, one of the highest mountains in the world, as officials yesterday called off the search for a second missing alpinist, who was declared deceased. Four Polish climbers with support from the military on Saturday afternoon launched an effort to rescue Elisabeth Revol, but were unable to reach Polish national Tomek Mackiewicz. They were flown by the military from the K2 base camp to reach the stranded climbers.
UNITED STATES
‘Beetle Bailey’ creator dies
Mort Walker, the artist and creator of the long-running comic strip Beetle Bailey about the antics of a work-shirking US Army private, died at his home on Saturday, his family said. He was 94. His son Greg Walker, who cowrote the strip with his father in his later years, said his dad died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, of pneumonia while recovering from a broken hip. Mort Walker drew the strip for 68 years, longer than any other comic-strip artist, his son said. He was also a co-creator of the long-running strip Hi and Lois about a suburban family, which continues today, written and drawn by his sons Greg and Brian Walker and also artist Chance Browne. Greg Walker said that Beetle and his friends will go on in the funny pages as a legacy to his father.
COLOMBIA
Police station bombed
At least five police officers were killed and 41 others wounded on Saturday when alleged drug traffickers detonated a bomb at a station in the northern city of Barranquilla. The bombing was one of the deadliest on security personnel in recent years, casting a pall over preparations for the city’s annual carnival. Barranquilla police commander Mariano Botero said the bomb detonated as the officers gathered for morning formation. A police source said 49 officers were at the site when the bomb exploded. A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack, Attorney General Nestor Martinez said.
CANADA
New provincial boss picked
The governing party of Saskatchewan province on Saturday chose a new leader who is a staunch opponent of the federal government’s plans to implement carbon taxes across the nation. The right-leaning Saskatchewan Party chose Scott Moe to replace Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall as party leader and premier. Moe is expected to be sworn in in the coming days. He won the race after five rounds of voting, beating out five rivals. Wall is retiring after serving as premier for a decade.
ALBANIA
Opposition supporters rally
Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of the capital on Saturday for an anti-government protest, accusing the Cabinet of links to organized crime and calling for its resignation. Backers of the center-right Democratic Party, the left-wing Socialist Movement for Integration and other smaller parties gathered at Tirana’s main Boulevard Martyrs of the Nation for a protest seen as a test of support for the Democrats, who suffered a landslide loss in last year’s parliamentary elections. Journalists estimated the turnout to be about 10,000, while opposition leaders said there were 200,000 to 300,000 people.
UNITED STATES
Man kills friend, himself
Michigan authorities said a man celebrating his 21st birthday accidentally shot his best friend and then killed himself in grief. WJRT-TV reports Zachary Woodcock shot himself minutes after he accidentally shot 21-year-old Richard Skillman, who died at the scene. Saginaw County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Mike Gomez says Woodcock was celebrating his birthday on Jan. 19 with friends in his apartment in Merrill, northwest of Detroit. Woodcock returned from his bedroom with a handgun that “went off and struck Mr Skillman in the chest,” Gomez said. As others were helping Skillman, witnesses told police that Woodcock left the apartment. “They heard a shot, walked out and there he was.”
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
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