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page 30 IRAQ Suicide bombing kills 27 at Shi’ite funeral in east Iraq At least 27 people were killed when a bomber detonated his explosive vest at a funeral for the relative of a Shi’ite Muslim militia commander in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala on Monday, security and medical sources said. The attack in […]

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IRAQ

Suicide bombing kills 27 at Shi’ite funeral in east Iraq

At least 27 people were killed when a bomber detonated his explosive vest at a funeral for the relative of a Shi’ite Muslim militia commander in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala on Monday, security and medical sources said.

The attack in Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad follows the deadliest bombing inside the capital so far this year, which left 78 people dead in a Shi’ite district on Sunday.

Security officials and police in Diyala said the target of the attack was two local commanders of the Hashid Shaabi umbrella group of Shi’ite militias who were attending the funeral ceremony for one of their relatives.

“The suicide attacker approached the local Hashid commanders and then blew his vest up, killing both with many others,” said one police major on condition of anonymity. A further 55 people were wounded, the sources said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, but attacks on Shi’ite Muslims are often claimed by Islamic State militants who control large parts of north and western Iraq.

GREEK

Migrants break down Macedonia fence on Greek border

A crowd of migrants has broken down a barbed-wire fence on the Macedonia-Greece border using a steel pole as a battering ram.

TV footage showed migrants pushing against the fence at Idomeni, ripping away barbed wire, as Macedonian police let off tear gas to force them away. A section of fence was smashed open with a metal signpost. It is not clear whether any migrants got through.

Many of those trying to reach northern Europe are Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

About 7,000 people are stuck on the Greek side of the border, as Macedonia is letting very few in. Many have been camping in squalid conditions for a week or more, with little food or medical help.

The chaos on Monday erupted as hundreds of people pushed their way past Greek police to reach the gate used to let trains through at the border crossing.

The protesters shouted “Open the border!” and threw stones at Macedonian riot police, while one group rammed the gate with the metal sign. Police responded by firing rounds of tear gas to force them back, before reinforcing the barrier.

SYRIA

UN: Thousands may have starved to death in Syria

The United Nations human rights chief warned on Monday that thousands of people may have died of starvation during sieges affecting nearly half a million people in war-torn Syria.

The comments by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein came as the first major ceasefire in the five-year conflict entered its third day, and as the UN prepared to deploy lorries loaded with humanitarian aid into the country during the lull in fighting.

“The deliberate starvation of people is unequivocally forbidden as a weapon of warfare. By extension, so are sieges,” said Hussein. He added: “Thousands of people may have starved to death.”

It was reported that US Secretary of State John Kerry had accused the Syrian government of using food as “a weapon of war”.

“This war in recent months hasn’t just been fought with weapons – it has also been fought through the use of food,” he said. “The guns here haven’t gone totally silent, so it’s still dangerous for aid workers.”

CONGO

At least 12 killed in eastern Congo by suspected Ugandan rebels

Suspected Ugandan rebels used machetes to kill at least 12 civilians on Monday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities and a local human rights group said, the latest in a series of targeted attacks over the last 18 months.

Rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist group originally from Uganda that has operated in the border region since the 1990s, carried out the killings in the village of Mamabio, 50 km (30 miles) north of the commercial center of Beni, said territorial administrator Amisi Kalonda.

“The bodies were found lying in different places. (The rebels) also ransacked the health center,” said Kalonda, who said 13 people were killed.

The Centre of Study for the Promotion of Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, a local organization that documents violence in the region, confirmed the killings in a statement, saying 12 were killed.

PAKISTAN

Pakistan hangs killer of Punjab’s governor, Taseer

Pakistan has hanged the former police bodyguard who shot dead Punjab’s governor over his opposition to blasphemy laws, officials say.

Mumtaz Qadri killed Salman Taseer in Islamabad in 2011, in a murder that shocked the country.

Qadri was hailed as a hero by some Islamist groups, and thousands of hard-line activists protested to show their support for him at the time.

After news of his execution, crowds again took to the streets in protest.

Security forces have been put on high alert and a heavy police presence, including riot police, are in place in the area around Qadri’s home in Islamabad.

His funeral will be held today at Liaquat Bagh park in nearby Rawalpindi, where large numbers of mourners are expected.

Prison officials said Qadri was executed at 04:30 local time (23:30 GMT) at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, near the capital, Islamabad.

N/KOREA:

North Korea: US student apologises for poster theft

A detained American student tearfully apologised for attempting to steal a political banner in North Korea from his hotel after being paraded in front of the media in Pyongyang.

Otto Warmbier, 21, an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, was arrested in January for committing what North Korea called “an anti-state crime” with “the tacit connivance of the US government and under its manipulation”.

Warmbier said on Monday that he wanted the banner with a political slogan on it as a trophy for a church back home. He said that he was offered a second-hand car worth $10,000 and was told if he was arrested and did not return, $200,000 would be paid to his mother.

Warmbier said that he accepted the offer because his family was “suffering from very severe financial difficulties”.

“I started to consider this as my only golden opportunity to earn money,” he said, adding that if he ever mentioned the involvement of the church, “no payments would come.”

MALAWI

Malawi to import 50,000 tonnes of maize after drought worsens

Malawi will import 50,000 tonnes of the staple maize from Tanzania to avert hunger after a drought that affected 2.8 million people in the southern African nation, state officials said on Monday.

Agriculture is Malawi’s mainstay, accounting for a third of the economy and providing livelihoods for 80 percent of the population of about 15 million people.

“With the 30,000 tonnes coming in from Zambia, we expect to add on another 50,000 tonnes from Tanzania that we have authorized (state-owned grain marketing company) ADMARC to import,” Erica Maganga, the principal secretary in the ministry of agriculture said.

The WFP said last week that Malawi needs $38 million to help the most vulnerable during the extended lean period.

But Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told parliament last week that the 30,000 tonnes from neighbouring Zambia and the 50,000 to be imported from Tanzania will be enough to feed the affected population.

KENYA

No imminent threat at Kenya airports, says police

Kenyan officials say there is no credible information of an imminent threat against the country’s airports after a leaked memo warned of possible suicide attacks by al-Shabab militants.

The head of Kenya’s airports authority, Yatich Kangugo, said at a press conference that the memo contained unverified information which had been released prematurely.

The document warned that airports in the capital, Nairobi, and Mombasa were among those being targeted by militants trained in Somalia.

He said disciplinary action would be taken against the person responsible for the leak.

INDIA

India to pump almost $13bn into rural development

India has pledged billions of dollars to help improve the lives of farmers and boost the rural economy, as part of a “budget for the poor” unveiled on Monday.

Arun Jaitley, the country’s finance minister, proposed spending nearly $13bn on rural development, promising higher incomes for farmers who form the majority of India’s 1.2 billion people.

The benefits for farmers could have been prompted by legislative assembly elections that are due in five states in the next few months.

The Indian government intends to distribute the benefits of growth among the poorer sections of society, including the vast majority of India’s farmers, he said.

RUSSIA

Woman held for Moscow child ‘beheading’

Police in the Russian capital Moscow have arrested a woman on suspicion of murdering a child after she was found apparently carrying a severed head.

The woman, believed to be the victim’s nanny, is suspected of killing the child before setting fire to its parents’ apartment.

CCTV appears to show the woman, dressed in a hijab, walking near a metro station with a head in her hands. A police officer intercepts and wrestles her to the ground.

The suspect has been placed in psychiatric care to determine whether she is capable of understanding her actions, the Moscow Investigative Committee said in a statement (in Russian).