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.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
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