CZECH REPUBLIC
Thousands rally for Pavel
Thousands of demonstrators on Sunday gathered across the country to support President Petr Pavel in his dispute with Minister of Foreign Affairs Petr Macinka over Pavel’s refusal to appoint Filip Turek as environment minister. Turek was ineligible for the post after a daily published Facebook posts of his found to be racist, homophobic and sexist, Pavel said. Macinka accused the president of violating the constitution and threatened him with consequences if he fails to appoint Turek. Pavel accused Macinka of blackmailing him. “This is no longer just about the president,” head organizer Mikula Mina said. “It is time to make it clear that we are not Hungary or Slovakia — and that we will not let a group of oligarchs, extremists and thugs steal our country’s future.”
Photo: AP
CHINA
Fireworks blast kills eight
An explosion and fire at a fireworks shop in Jiangsu Province has killed eight people and left two with minor burns ahead of the Lunar New Year, authorities said. The Sunday afternoon blast was caused by a resident setting off fireworks improperly near the store, the Donghai County Government said in a statement. It did not provide further details on what happened. The Ministry of Emergency Management urged all regions to bolster the supervision of production, transportation, sale and use of fireworks.
BURKINA FASO
Attacks kill at least 10
Suspected Islamist militants on Sunday attacked an army unit in the latest in a series of incidents that have killed at least 10 people in four days, security sources said. Social media has been awash with speculation that the spate of attacks might have killed dozens of soldiers. Militants on Sunday attacked a military detachment in the northern town of Nare, two security sources said. The previous day, the Burkinabe army’s unit in the northern city of Titao was “targeted by a group of several hundred terrorists,” one of the sources said.
UKRAINE
Ex-energy minister detained
A former energy minister has been detained as a suspect in a high-profile kickback case for crimes such as money laundering and participation in criminal activity, anti-graft prosecutors said yesterday, but did not name him. The country’s previous two energy ministers resigned amid fallout from the “Midas” case, centered on an alleged US$100 million kickback scheme at the state atomic agency that ensnared senior officials and business elites. “We are talking about the former energy minister of Ukraine” 2021 to 2025, special anti-graft prosecutors said on Telegram.
AUSTRALIA
Trove of artifacts recovered
Police have recovered a trove of stolen Egyptian artifacts and charged a 52-year-old man with a nighttime smash-and-grab at a museum. The man was accused of breaking a window and making off with priceless treasures early on Friday from the Abbey Museum of Art and Archeology in Caboolture. Police said they found all the stolen goods — except for a wooden cat sculpture — when they searched a vehicle the following day. In court yesterday, a prosecutor said the man, named by local media as Miguel Simon Mungarrieta Monsalve, stole a mummy mask, a collar, a piece of jewelry and the wooden cat, while also causing “irreparable damage” to other items, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported. The suspect told police he believed the museum had links to the Catholic Church, the prosecutor said.
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
RSS