QUETTA: At least five people, including three schoolgirls and a policeman, were killed in a roadside blast in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday morning, police said, in the latest incident of violence to hit the restive region.
The blast appeared to target a police van passing by a girls school in the Mastung district of the province, according to police and local administration officials.
Fateh Baloch, in-charge of the Mastung police station, said the police mobile van came under attack when it was on a routine patrol on Friday morning.
“Five people, including a police constable and three minor schoolgirls, were killed and 13 others injured in the blast,” Baloch told Arab News.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.
“We have cordoned-off the area and are shifting the injured to the hospital,” Baz Muhammad Marri, the Mastung deputy commissioner, told Arab News.
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and is home to major China-led projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine, has been the site of a decades-long separatist insurgency by ethnic Baloch militants. The province has lately seen an increase in attacks by separatist militants.
On Tuesday, five people were killed in an attack by armed men on the construction site of a small dam in Balochistan’s Panjgur district. The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups, claimed responsibility for the attack along with killing of two other persons in Kech and Quetta districts.
This month, 21 miners working at privately run coal mines were killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen.
The separatists accuse the central government of exploiting Balochistan’s mineral and gas resources. The Pakistani state denies the allegation and says it is working to uplift the region through development initiatives.
Besides Baloch separatists, the restive region also has a presence of religiously motivated militant groups, who frequently target police and security forces.
Islamabad says militants mainly associated with the Pakistani Taliban frequently launch attacks from Afghanistan and has even blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating anti-Pakistan groups. Kabul denies the allegation.
7.0 earthquake off Northern California prompts brief tsunami warning
Updated 15 sec ago
AP
SAN FRANCISCO: A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook a large area of Northern California on Thursday, knocking items off grocery store shelves, sending children scrambling under desks and prompting a brief tsunami warning for 5.3 million people along the US West Coast. The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles (209 km) from the Oregon border, the US Geological Survey said. It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles (435 km) away, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds. It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury. The tsunami warning was in effect for roughly an hour. It was issued shortly after the temblor struck and covered nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon. “It was a strong quake, our building shook, we’re fine but I have a mess to clean up right now,” said Julie Kreitzer, owner of Golden Gait Mercantile, a store packed with food, wares and souvenirs that is a main attraction in Ferndale. “We lost a lot of stuff. It’s probably worse than two years ago. I have to go, I have to try and salvage something for the holidays because it’s going to be a tough year,” Kreitzer said before hanging up. The region — known for its redwood forests, scenic mountains and the three-county Emerald Triangle’s legendary marijuana crop — was struck by a 6.4 magnitude quake in 2022 that left thousands of people without power and water. The northwest corner of California is the most seismically active part of the state since it’s where three tectonic plates meet, seismologist Lucy Jones said on the social media platform BlueSky. Shortly after the quake, phones in Northern California buzzed with the tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.” Numerous cities urged people to evacuate to higher ground as a precaution, including Eureka. In Santa Cruz, authorities cleared the main beach, taping off entrances with police tape. Aerial footage showed cars bumper-to-bumper heading to higher ground Thursday morning on California highways 1 and 92 in the Half Moon Bay area south of San Francisco. “I thought my axles had fallen apart,” said Valerie Starkey, a Del Norte County supervisor representing Crescent City, a town of fewer than 6,000 near the Oregon border. “That’s what I was feeling ... ‘My axles are broken now.’ I did not realize it was an earthquake.” Cindy Vosburg, the executive director for the Crescent City-Del Norte County Chamber of Commerce, said she heard alarms sound just before shaking began and the city’s cultural center downtown started to creak. “The earthquake seemed to go on for quite a few seconds. It was a rolling earthquake,” Vosburg said. “Just as it would start to subside, the building would roll again.” Vosburg, a former resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, said it was the strongest earthquake she felt since the 1989 Loma Prieta quake struck Northern California. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has signed off on a state of emergency declaration to quickly move state resources to impacted areas along the coast. State officials were concerned about damages in the northern part of the state, Newsom said. White House Spokesperson Jeremy Edwards said President Joe Biden was briefed on the earthquake and that FEMA officials are in touch with their state and local counterparts in California and Oregon. Crews in Eureka, the biggest city in the region, were assessing if there was any major damage from the quake, Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel said. Bergel, who works as a resource aid at a middle school, said lights were swaying and everyone got under desks. “The kids were so great and terrified. It seemed to go back and forth for quite a long time,” she said. Some children asked, “Can I call my mom?“ The students were later sent home. In nearby Arcata, students and faculty were urged to shelter in place at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The campus in was not in the tsunami hazard zone and after inspections, “all utilities and building systems are normal and operational,” the university said in a statement. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said residents experienced some cracks in their homes’ foundations, as well as broken glass and windows, but nothing severe. There also have been no major infrastructure problems, building collapses or roadway issues, and no major injuries or deaths have been reported, he said. Honsal said he was in his office in the 75-year-old courthouse in downtown Eureka when he felt the quake. “We’re used to it. It is known as ‘earthquake country’ up here,” he said. “It wasn’t a sharp jolt. It was a slow roller, but significant.” Michael Luna, owner of a Grocery Outlet in Eureka, said that besides a few items falling off shelves, the store on Commercial Street was unscathed by the earthquake. “We didn’t have any issues but a couple of deodorants fall off.... I think the way the earthquake rumbled this time, it was a good thing for our store because the last earthquake was a huge mess,” he said. They evacuated customers and closed their doors temporarily until officials lifted the tsunami warning, he said, rushing off the phone to attend to a growing line of customers at check-out. The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, stopped traffic in all directions through the underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland, and the San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated. Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator for the Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, said the computer models indicated that this was the type of earthquake that was unlikely to cause a tsunami and gauges that monitor waves then confirmed it, so forecasters canceled the warning. This quake was a strike-slip type of temblor that shifts more horizontally and is less prone to cause tsunamis, unlike the more vertical types, said National Weather Service tsunami program manager Corina Allen in Washington state. The California Geological Survey says the state’s shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis since 1800, and while most were minor, some have been destructive and deadly. On March 28, 1964, a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Alaska smashed into Crescent City hours later. Much of the business district was leveled and a dozen people were killed. More recently, a tsunami from a 2011 earthquake in Japan caused about $100 million in damages along the California coast, much of it in Crescent City.
US neighbors balk at Trump plan for deported migrants
Updated 55 min 1 sec ago
AFP
WASHINGTON: The Bahamas on Thursday said it had rejected a proposal from the incoming Trump administration to receive deported migrants, with Mexico and Panama also stressing they would only take back their own citizens.
Donald Trump’s team has drawn up a list of countries to which it wants to deport undocumented migrants when their home countries refuse to accept them, according to NBC News.
Sources told the television network that the countries that are being considered include the Bahamas, Grenada, Panama and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
But the Bahamas — an island nation in the Atlantic Ocean — said it had “reviewed and firmly rejected” the plan from the US president-elect, who campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants.
Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis’s office said in a statement that his government had received a proposal from the Trump transition team “to accept deportation flights of migrants from other countries.”
“Since the Prime Minister’s rejection of this proposal, there has been no further engagement or discussions with the Trump transition team,” the statement added.
The Panamanian foreign ministry said it had received no such proposal from the Trump team, officially or unofficially.
“What is more, under international law we are under no obligation to take in deportees who are not Panamanian,” it said in a statement.
Panama wants to have good relations with the United States but “the foreign ministry believes clearly that our main mission is to protect the interests of Panama.”
The Turks and Caicos also said it would not accept deportees.
“Turks and Caicos, like all nations, has the sovereign right to determine who may reside within its borders,” Immigration Minister Arlington Musgrove told the Miami Herald.
“The unilateral imposition of third-country deportation policies, such as those reportedly under consideration by the incoming Trump administration, is fundamentally at odds with international norms and legal standards,” Musgrove told the newspaper.
Mexico’s new President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country has an agreement with the Biden administration under which non-Mexicans crossing into the United States from Mexico without papers are sent directly back to their countries of origin, and she hopes this will continue with Trump.
“Of course, we show solidarity with all people but our main function is to take in Mexicans and we hope to have an agreement with the Trump administration in case there are these deportations,” she said.
Trump’s team made no immediate comment Thursday on the proposal reported by NBC, which appeared to reveal one part of how the incoming president plans to enact radical migration reform when in office.
The deportation plan could mean that migrants are permanently displaced in countries to which they have no links.
It is not clear if the migrants would be allowed to work — or what pressure Trump may apply to get countries to agree, NBC said.
The US government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, and Trump on the campaign trail targeted concerns by claiming a migrant “invasion” is underway.
At rallies, he repeatedly railed against undocumented immigrants, accusing them of rape and murder and attacking those who “poison the blood” of the United States.
He has vowed to tackle migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — which allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners belonging to enemy countries.
Trump also promoted the fictitious story that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets.
The incoming president last month said he was bringing back hard-line immigration official Tom Homan to oversee the country’s borders.
Homan led immigration enforcement during part of Trump’s first administration.
A British plan to deport its asylum seekers to Rwanda was dropped earlier this year when the Labour Party took power under Keir Starmer after ousting the Conservatives.
MOSCOW: Russia denied on Thursday it was interfering in Romania’s elections, as the EU member geared up for the second round of a presidential vote that could see a pro-Russian candidate win.
Far-right contender Calin Georgescu unexpectedly topped the ballot in the first round of voting last month, shocking Bucharest’s NATO allies and prompting accusations of Kremlin interference from Romanian authorities.
“The campaign for the Romanian presidential election... is accompanied by an unprecedented outburst of anti-Russian hysteria,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said of the allegations.
“More and more absurd accusations are being made by local politicians, officials and media representatives...,” she added.
“We firmly reject all hostile attacks, which we consider absolutely groundless.”
The European Commission said Thursday it had stepped up its monitoring of TikTok in the context of Romania’s elections, after receiving information about possible Russian interference.
Georgescu’s nationalist discourse has hit a mark on social media, particularly on TikTok, where his videos have racked up millions of views.
The second round of the vote will be held Sunday, where Georgescu will face centrist mayor Elena Lasconi.
Fresh protests in Georgia after PM vows to ‘eradicate’ opposition
Updated 06 December 2024
AFP
TBILISI: Thousands of people rallied across Georgia on Thursday for a second week of pro-EU protests, after the prime minister threatened to “eradicate” the country’s “liberal-fascist” opposition.
Tbilisi has been rocked by turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party, which critics accuse of creeping authoritarianism and leading the country back toward Russia, claimed victory in a disputed election in October.
The government said last Thursday that it would suspend EU membership talks until 2028, sparking a fresh wave of demonstrations that have been met with a heavy-handed response from authorities.
As protesters took to the streets for the eighth consecutive night, there was no clear way out of the crisis, with the government escalating its feud with the opposition and demonstrations reported in several cities.
In the capital, Tbilisi, turnout was lower than in the previous days but while some worried the movement might be losing steam, most of those in attendance were upbeat.
“This government has to change as they just don’t care about us, about future generations,” said Mano, a 23-year-old who declined to give her full name and was among thousands that gathered outside parliament.
As on previous nights, some demonstrators banged on the metal barriers blocking the parliament’s entrance, waved EU flags and loudly blew horns and whistles.
Some held signs reading “your repression will finish you” as a green laser beam projected a hand in a v-for-victory sign on the building facade, an AFP reporter witnessed.
Ucha, a 42-year-old doctor who also gave only his first name, said it was normal for numbers to dwindle — noting he had not seen his children in a week, having come to protest every day after work.
“Of course we are a little bit tired,” he said. “We need a little rest, and then we will be back again.” Others said they expected numbers to pick up again at the weekend.
Protests were also held in cities including Batumi, Zugdidi, and Kutaisi, local media reported.
Video footage shared on social media showed a teenager in the latter city lying on the ground, semi-conscious, as protesters accused the police of using excessive force against him.
The interior ministry said five people were arrested in Tbilisi and Kutaisi’s Imereti region.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has refused to back down, saying earlier the government would “do everything necessary to completely eradicate liberal fascism in Georgia.”
“This process has already begun,” he told reporters, using language reminiscent of that used by the Kremlin in Russia to target its political opponents.
Masked police raided several opposition party offices and arrested opposition leaders, while around 300 people have been detained over the last week.
Rights ombudsman Levan Ioseliani has accused the police of “torture” against those arrested, saying on Thursday 191 protesters detained over the past week had reported mistreatment in custody, with 138 showing visible injuries.
Opposition leader Nika Gvaramia of the Akhali party was beaten during a police raid Wednesday, with television footage showing him, apparently unconscious, being carried away by masked security forces.
Another detained opposition politician, Alexandre Elisashvili, was hospitalized with “serious injuries” he allegedly sustained in custody, his Strong Georgia opposition alliance said.
The United States and other countries have denounced Georgia’s crackdown, with Washington threatening additional sanctions against the country’s leaders.
Critics of the government are enraged by what they call its betrayal of Georgia’s bid for EU membership, which is enshrined in its constitution and supported by around 80 percent of the population.
Several ambassadors, a deputy foreign minister, and other officials have resigned over the decision to suspend EU accession talks
The protests have drawn comparisons with the 2014 pro-EU revolution in Ukraine that ousted a Moscow-backed president.
Announcing sanctions against Georgia’s leadership in a video message on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Kobakhidze and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, widely seen as the country’s de facto leader, for “handing Georgia over to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
Weather hampers search for 3 climbers missing on New Zealand’s highest peak
Updated 05 December 2024
AP
WELLINGTON: New Zealand authorities have “grave concerns” for three mountain climbers from the US and Canada who are missing after a planned ascent of the country’s highest peak, Aoraki, as efforts to find them stalled for a third day amid bad weather.
Strong winds meant an aerial search for the men could not resume as anticipated on Thursday, Police Area Commander Inspector Vicki Walker said in a statement.
The Americans — Kurt Blair, 56, from Colorado and Carlos Romero, 50, of California — are certified alpine guides, according to the website of the nonprofit American Mountain Guides Association. New Zealand authorities have not named the Canadian climber at the request of his family.
The men flew to a hut partway up the mountain on Saturday to begin their ascent and were reported missing on Monday when they did not arrive to meet their prearranged transport after the climb. Searchers hours later found several climbing-related items believed to belong to the men, but no sign of them, police said.
The search for the men stalled on Tuesday and Wednesday due to deteriorating weather conditions on Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook, with heavy rain and snow forecast.
Walker earlier hoped efforts would resume Thursday but said conditions on the day were unsafe.
Aoraki is 3,724 meters high and is part of the Southern Alps, the scenic and icy mountain range that runs the length of New Zealand’s South Island.
