The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It’s hateful, it’s horrific and upsetting. But it doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference. Londoners are used to living in a city where life is complicated.”

Christian White, a London resident, speaking about a deadly attack on a British soldier near a military barracks in the city Article, this page

Taliban bomb kills 13 in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan - A large bomb hidden by the Taliban in a rickshaw exploded as a police vehicle passed in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing 11 policemen and two civilians, police said.

The bombing on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, wounded more than 20 people, said senior police officer Fayaz Sumbal.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge for militants killed in the country’s northwest.

Baluchistan is home to many Islamic militant groups, as well as separatist insurgents who have been fighting the government for decades.

Also Thursday, several militants attacked a Pakistani army checkpoint in the Kurram tribal area near the Afghan border, killing four soldiers, said local police officer Mujahid Khan.

The soldiers, backed by helicopter gunship and jet fighters, chased the militants fleeing to their hide-outs and killed 20 of them, he said.

Pakistan’s tribal region is home to a wide range of Islamic militants, many of them linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Canadian businessman on trial in Cuba

HAVANA - A Canadian businessman caught up in a corruption probe in Cuba went on trial Thursday, nearly two years after he was detained and his import company, Tri-Star Caribbean, was shuttered.

Sarkis Yacoubian arrived at an Interior Ministry courthouse in Havana in a black sedan with tinted windows and was seen being escorted inside by two men.

He did not speak to reporters, nor did Canadian Ambassador Matthew Levin, who also attended the proceedings.

Foreign journalists were not allowed access to the court, and government officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Raul Castro has repeatedly spoken of a need to root out entrenched corruption on the communist-run island, and his anti-graft drive has swept up foreign business executives from at least five nations, as well as government officials and dozens of Cuban employees at key state-run companies.

The Toronto Star and El Nuevo Herald reported last week that Yacoubian was indicted last month on charges of bribery, tax evasion and “activities damaging to the economy.” He reportedly faces up to 12 years in prison.

In a phone interview from jail, he said he had no choice but to pay island officials to secure business contracts, and claimed to have blown the whistle on corruption involving Tri-Star and other companies.

Malaysia seizes 3 in political crackdown

BANGKOK - The Malaysian government began a crackdown on political opponents Thursday, arresting three government critics, including a prominent member of Parliament, and charging a student activist with sedition.

The arrests were made 2 ½ weeks after elections that showed the governing party, which has been in power since independence from Britain in 1957, losing support from broad portions of the electorate.

The crackdown may be an attempt to pre-empt a demonstration planned for Saturday to protest accusations of fraud in the election, analysts said.

The opposition, which is led by a former deputy prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, won the popular vote in the May 5 election but failed to take control of Parliament because of a lopsided electoral system that gives a stronger voice to rural areas, where the governing party is strongest.

Anwar said the election victory was fraudulent and has been leading rallies across the country since the election results were announced; the demonstration Saturday is being organized by a coalition of several dozen civic organizations.

The member of Parliament arrested Thursday, Tian Chua, is Anwar’s deputy in a multicultural party that is challenging the dominance of the single-race United Malays National Organization.

Czech family slain; American suspected

BRNO, Czech Republic - An American man is suspected of killing a family of four and is on the run in the Czech Republic and likely armed, officials said Thursday.

The bodies of the four victims - identified by neighbors as a married couple and their two sons - were found by firefighters who responded to a house fire in Brno, the country’s second-largest city.

Firefighters spokesman Jaroslav Mikoska said rescuers immediately realized that “a violent crime had likely been committed there.” The fire did not badly damage the house.

Brno Police spokesman Petra Vedrova identified the suspect as Kevin Dahlgren, born in 1992, and released his photograph.

Vedrova said that all four victims were related. A Czech public television reported that Dahlgren was the nephew of the parents. Police did not immediately confirm that relationship.

Front Section, Pages 7 on 05/24/2013

Upcoming Events