China remembers
China stood still Monday, mourning for tens of thousands of earthquake victims, until a government forecast of a possible strong aftershock sent jittery people in the disaster area rushing into the streets. The bustling nation of 1.3 billion people paused for three minutes at 2:28 p.m. — exactly one week after the quake hit.
Aid for Myanmar
After weeks of international pressure, Myanmar agreed to let in medical teams from neighboring countries, the regional bloc announced Monday. The UN, though, said after a brief tour Monday that conditions there were “terrible,” with hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims suffering from hunger, disease and lack of shelter.
U.S. blasts France
France has had informal contacts with Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules Gaza, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday in Paris. Hamas confirmed the contacts. The acknowledgement of secret contacts between France and a group considered terrorist by the U.S. and the European Union brought swift criticism from Washington.
Al Qaeda arrest
The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported the arrest Monday of a top Al Qaeda in Iraq figure in Mosul, where security forces have been carrying out an intensified crackdown to root out the terror network. Abdul-Khaliq al-Sabawi was captured in a morning raid in Salahuddin province, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Taha, the director of the ministry’s internal affairs office, said.
LONDON: A 1980 painting by Lucien Freud called “Naked Portrait with Reflection” is seen through a sculpture on display Monday at Christie’s auction house. The painting is expected to fetch between $19.5 million and $29.3 million.
REIGER, South Africa: Clashes pitting the poorest of the poor against one another have killed 22 people in South Africa and underscored frustration with the government’s failure to deliver enough jobs, housing and schools. Police brought in reinforcements as violence hopped from slum to slum in scenes reminiscent of some of the bloodiest days of apartheid.
GETXO, Spain: Officers search the scene where a car bomb exploded Monday after a warning call from the Basque separatist group ETA, police said. No one was injured.
TOKYO: Hello, Kitty. Japan has appointed the popular cartoon cat its goodwill tourism ambassador in China and Hong Kong, with the aim of boosting tourism.
The hills are alive … with the sound of protest
Plans to run a hotel out of a former home of the von Trapp family immortalized in the movie “The Sound of Music” have triggered fierce resistance from neighbors who fear tourists will tie up traffic and make a nuisance of themselves. “We will fight this with all means at our disposal,” said Andreas Braunbruck, who lives near the Villa Trapp in an area of Salzburg, Austria, already teeming with “Sound of Music” tourists.
