CHINA A Taiwanese pastor was detained for 15 days by Chinese police after visiting an unauthorized Christian church congregation in central China, the pastor of the Chinese church group said yesterday. Li Jia’en, who leads the church group in the central Chinese city of Luoyang, said Shen Zhenguo had returned to Taiwan after being released on Oct. 29. Li himself also was detained for the same length of time on the charge of holding an illegal religious gathering.
PAKISTAN A Pakistani official says the death toll from the collapse of a factory building last week has risen to 53. Jam Sajjad Hussain said yesterday that rescuers have sifted through nearly all the debris from the collapse of a four-story building in the eastern city of Lahore. Rescuers have retrieved 100 living workers from the rubble, including a teenager whose family assumed he was dead. The cause of Wednesday’s collapse is yet to be determined.
VATICAN In his first public comments on the latest scandal rocking the Vatican, Pope Francis tells followers in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday that the theft of Vatican documents describing financial malfeasance inside the Holy See was a “crime” but pledged to continue reforms.
USA An acoustic guitar that John Lennon used to record and write “Love Me Do,” ‘’I Want to Hold Your Hand” and other hit songs sells for USD2.4 million at auction.
SWEDEN Levels of carbon dioxide and methane, the two most important greenhouse gases, reached record highs last year, continuing the warming effect on the world’s climate, the U.N. weather agency said yesterday. CO2 levels rose to nearly 398 parts per million, from 396 ppm in 2013, the World Meteorological Organization said.
CONGO A firefight between rangers and poachers in Congo’s Garamba National Park that left three rangers and an army colonel dead highlights the challenge of protecting wildlife in a part of Africa plagued by insurgencies, civil wars, refugee flows and weak governments.
JORDAN A Jordanian government spokesman says a Jordanian policeman opened fire Monday on foreign trainers at a police compound, killing two Americans and a South African before being shot dead.
CROATIA’s conservative opposition has won the Balkan country’s first parliamentary election since joining the European Union in 2013, but without enough votes to rule alone and with tough government negotiations looming. The state electoral commission said yesterday that with 99 percent of the vote counted, the conservatives, led by former intelligence chief Tomislav Karamarko, won 59 seats in the 151-seat parliament. The ruling Social Democrats, led by incumbent Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, got 56 seats.
SPAIN The regional parliament of northeastern Catalonia approved a plan yesterday to set up road map for independence from Spain by 2017, in defiance of the central government. The Barcelona-based chamber passed the motion by 72 votes to 63.
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