PAKISTAN
Tribal clashes leave 15 dead
Clashes between two tribes feuding over the ownership of a coal mine in the country’s remote northwest left 15 men dead and several wounded, police said yesterday. The fighting erupted on Monday between the Sunny Khel and Zarghun Khel tribes in Dara Adam Khel, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the border with Afghanistan. The men were armed with handguns and assault rifles, and the fighting lasted for hours, local police official Munawar Khan said. Security forces were summoned to bring the situation under control, and Khan said that order was later restored. The two tribes have been fighting over the ownership rights for the mine since 2019. Khan said it was unclear what triggered the latest clashes, and officers were still investigating.
INDIA
Cough syrups may be tested
The national drug regulator has proposed testing cough syrups in government laboratories before they are exported, media outlet News18.com reported yesterday, after Indian-made syrups were linked to the deaths of at least 70 children in Gambia and 19 in Uzbekistan last year. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare received the proposal from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation this month and is considering it, the news Web site quoted an unidentified ministry official as saying. “The proposal is to test the finished goods at government labs before exporting,” the official told News18.com. The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
HONG KONG
Libraries must censor: Lee
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) yesterday said that public libraries need to ensure books do not contravene local laws, amid criticism that many books and videos related to China’s Tiananmen Square Massacre have been removed from library shelves. “These books are accessible by people in private book shops. If they want to buy, they can buy,” Lee told reporters, when asked about the removal of literature and documentaries about the massacre from public libraries. “What libraries need to do is to ensure that there’s no breach of any laws in Hong Kong, including of course, copyrights etc, and also if they spread any kind of messages that are not in the interests of Hong Kong,” Lee said, without elaborating. Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper reported that more than 40 percent of video materials and books involving “political themes” had been removed from public libraries since 2020.
CHINA
Comedian probed for Xi joke
A Chinese comedian who joked about two dogs embodying the work ethic of one of President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) military slogans has been suspended from work, after attracting the ire of strident online nationalists. Beijing authorities on Monday launched a probe into leading talk show company, Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co, after a growing chorus of social media posts said that Li Haoshi (李昊石) had insulted the People’s Liberation Army. In an audio clip of Li’s performance posted to Sina Weibo, the comedian, known as House, likened the behavior of two wild dogs he had observed to “having a good work style, being able to fight and win battles” — an eight-character slogan Xi used during a 2013 People’s Liberation Army national legislative session. “I will take on all the responsibility for this, stop all my performances, deeply reflect and re-learn,” Li wrote on Sina Weibo. China enacted a law in 2021 criminalizing insults against military personnel.
GERMANY
Five jailed for jewelry heist
The Dresden state court yesterday convicted five men over the theft of more than 100 million euros (US$109 million) of 18th-century jewels from a Dresden museum in 2019. They were given prison sentences of between four years and four months and six years and three months, news agency dpa reported. One defendant was acquitted. The court ruled that the five — aged 24 to 29 — were responsible for the break-in at the Green Vault Museum on Nov. 25, 2019, and the theft of 21 pieces of jewelry containing more than 4,300 diamonds, with a total insured value of at least 113.8 million euros. They were convicted of particularly aggravated arson in combination with dangerous bodily injury, theft with weapons, damage to property and intentional arson. The men laid a fire just before the break-in to cut the power supply to street lights outside the museum, and also set fire to a car in a nearby garage before fleeing to Berlin. They were caught several months later.
MEXICO
Tourist dies in knife attack
An Argentine tourist who was attacked on Friday by a man with a machete has died of his wounds, the district attorney’s office reported on Monday. The victim was with a couple of Argentine friends at a restaurant in the Lagunas de Chacahua in Oaxaca, when they were attacked on Friday. He “was transferred to Mexico City, where he died this Monday afternoon as a result of the injuries inflicted,” the prosecutors’ office said in a statement. His friends were also wounded, but their injuries were not life-threatening. The attacker was detained and is today to appear before a judge to be charged with aggravated homicide, the prosecutors’ office added. The possible motive for the attack was not immediately known.
ITALY
US$880m of cocaine seized
Police yesterday said they had seized 2,700kg of highly pure cocaine hidden in two refrigerated containers containing bananas that had been shipped from Ecuador. The haul found in the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro is estimated to be worth more than 800 million euros, the Guardia di Finanza police said in a statement. The shipment had come from Guayaquil in Ecuador and its final destination was Armenia, via the Black Sea port of Batumi in Georgia. The drugs were discovered in the 12m containers thanks to specialized scanners, helped by a sniffer dog named Joel, the police added. Police said they had found a further 600kg of cocaine in the past few days in fruit containers from Ecuador being shipped through Gioia Tauro. These consignments had been destined for other parts of Italy, Croatia, Greece and Georgia, they added.
NIGERIA
Chef cooks for 100 hours
A chef has spent 100 hours preparing meals non-stop, aiming to set a Guinness World Record for the longest cooking session by an individual. Lagos chef Hilda Bassey has captivated the country with her marathon cooking, which started on Thursday and ended on Monday night. President Muhammadu Buhari and several politicians and celebrities congratulated Bassey, while cheering supporters camped outside an events center to witness the 27-year-old chef preparing a mix of local and foreign dishes, from jollof rice to pasta and akara, which is made from bean flour. The current longest cooking record is held by Indian chef Lata Tondon, who set a time of 87 hours and 45 minutes in 2019. Bassey’s time has to be certified by Guinness World Record officials before it can be made official.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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