CHINA Leaders of Beijing’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics said Wednesday the capital’s notorious air pollution will be much improved by the time of the games. The vice president of the bid committee, Zhang Jiandong, told reporters that air quality at the rural sites for the skiing and sliding events was already very good. The problem, he said, was Beijing’s urban core where the main athletes’ village will be located, along with the indoor arenas for skating, hockey and curling. Zhang said Beijing’s urban center expects a 25% reduction in PM2.5 pollutants under a five-year plan begun in 2013 to close coal-fired power plants and other major polluters.
VIETNAM’s prime minister orders a swift investigation into a scaffolding collapse that killed 13 workers and injured dozens, while a unit of South Korea’s Samsung Group involved in the construction project offered initial assistance to victims’ families.
INDIA Police arrest two suspects in the gang rape of an elderly nun in a missionary school which focused attention on sexual violence in India despite tough anti-rape laws introduced two years ago.
CAMBODIAN officials inaugurate a memorial at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to remember more than 12,000 people tortured at the site when it was a Khmer Rouge prison.
INDONESIAN President Joko Widodo has been too busy during the past three weeks to accept a phone call from the Australian prime minister to plead for the lives of two death row prisoners, an Indonesian envoy says.
IRAN Nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran enter a critical phase with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meeting his Iranian counterpart less than a week away from an end-of-month deadline to secure the outline of a deal.
ISRAEL The human rights group Amnesty International said in a report yesterday that Palestinian militants committed war crimes during the 2014 Gaza conflict by killing both Israeli and Palestinian civilians using indiscriminate projectiles. The report comes after two other reports issued in late 2014 that accused Israel of war crimes for attacks on multistory civilian buildings and Palestinian homes during the war.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince Charles expressed dismay Thursday at a Supreme Court ruling that paves the way for publication of Charles’ letters to government ministers. A spokesman for Charles said “Clarence House is disappointed the principle of privacy has not been upheld.” The case involves letters Charles has written to seven government departments. They are believed to contain strong personal views.
TUNISIAN police have arrested 23 people so far from the group behind the attack on the museum that killed 21, but Moroccan and Algerian suspects are still at large, said the country’s top security official yesterday. Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli told journalists that the arrests included a woman and the group was connected to the al-Qaida-linked Oqba Ibn Nafaa brigade.
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