Reuters, Lahore
A bomb blast in an upscale shopping center in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore killed at least eight people and wounded 20 on Thursday, officials said, the latest in a surge of violence that has shaken the country.
Security forces cordoned off the residential neighborhood, also home to banks and coffee shops, rescue officials said, after what one bank worker said was a “frightening” explosion.
4 killed as militants attack in Kashmir
AFP, Srinagar
A woman and three soldiers were killed Thursday when militants ambushed an army convoy in India-held Kashmir, police said.
The soldiers were returning from a search operation when the militants attacked their convoy, injuring six, three of whom later died.
McCain makes secret trip to Syria
Agency, Damascus
Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) made a secret trip to northern Syria last week to meet with U.S. troops and Kurdish fighters amid their longstanding battle to defeat ISIS, his office said Wednesday.
“Senator McCain traveled to northern Syria last week to visit U.S. forces deployed there and to discuss the counter-ISIL campaign and ongoing operations to retake Raqqa,” a McCain spokesperson said in an emailed statement on Wednesday, referring to ISIS’ Syrian capital.
N Korea blames Malaysia for its citizen death
Reuters, Seoul
North Korea blamed Malaysia on Thursday for the death of one of its citizens there last week and accused it of an “unfriendly attitude” in a scenario drawn up by South Korea, which has said Pyongyang agents assassinated the North Korean leader’s half-brother.
Malaysia had initially told North Korea that the person bearing a diplomatic passport had died after suffering a heart attack at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13, Pyongyang’s state-run KCNA news agency said.
Russia successfully launches space freighter
AFP, Moscow
Russia on Wednesday successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft taking food and equipment to the International Space Station after the previous such ship crashed to Earth shortly after launch in December.
A Soyuz rocket carrying the Progress cargo ship lifted off on schedule at 05:58 GMT from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
1,300 Romanian officials prosecuted for graft
AP, Bucharest
Nearly 1,300 officials were sent to trial last year in Romania in corruption cases with damages amounting to 260 million euros ($273 million), the country’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor said Thursday
Laura Kovesi Codruta, who heads the country’s anti-graft agency, said three ministers, 17 lawmakers, 16 magistrates and 20 state company officials were among high-level cases targeted by the agency last year.
