Pakistan won’t attend tobacco confce in India
Reuters, Islamabad
Pakistan will not attend a global tobacco-control conference in India next week, a government minister said on Friday, in the latest fallout of strained diplomatic ties between the South Asian neighbours.
India is hosting the biennial conference of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the only global treaty to deter tobacco consumption. Delegates from around 180 countries are expected to attend.
8 killed in Turkey car bombing
AP, Ankara, Turkey
A car bomb attack in the largest city in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast region killed eight people Friday, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish lawmakers for questioning in terror-related probes.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians died in the attack near a building used by the riot police. Up to 100 people were hurt in the blast but only seven of them remain in hospital, he said.
Yildirim also said one of the assailants was “caught dead,” but did not provide details.
Nato airstrike kills 30 Afghan civilians
AFP, Kabul
A Nato airstrike killed at least 30 Afghan civilians, including women and children, on Thursday in the volatile northern province of Kunduz, officials said, after a Taliban assault there left two American soldiers dead.
The airstrike, which occurred early Thursday, triggered emotionally-charged protests in the provincial capital, with the victims’ relatives rallying outside the governor’s office while carrying the bodies of dead children.
Thousands rally in Jakarta over blasphemy
AP, Jakarta
Tens of thousands of hard-line Muslims marched Friday on the center of the Indonesian capital to demand the arrest of its minority-Christian governor for alleged blasphemy. Fearing violence, police put on a show of force supported by soldiers and public order officers, while embassies closed, some shops shuttered and Jakarta’s normally traffic-clogged streets were nearly empty of cars.
The predominantly male demonstrators, most wearing white shirts and skull caps, massed at the Istiqlal Mosque for the protest following weekly Friday prayers and marched on the nearby presidential palace. Large protests also took place in other cities including Medan on Sumatra, Makassar in Sulawesi and Malang in East Java.
