World news in brief
Nerve agent found on Kim Jong-nam’s face
Police in Malaysia yesterday said that Kim Jong-nam, who was killed in a Kuala Lumpur airport, had a nerve agent on his eye and face. A statement from the inspector general of police said a preliminary analysis from the Chemistry Department of Malaysia identified the substance as "vx nerve agent". The half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, died on 13 February shortly after two women smeared a substance on his face while he was checking in for a flight.
Police have not said how the women were able to apply the nerve agent to Kim's face and also avoid becoming ill themselves. It is not known if they were wearing some sort of thin gloves or if washing their hands quickly removed the danger. Police had said earlier that the two attackers rubbed a liquid on Kim Jong Nam's face before walking away and quickly washing their hands. He sought help from airport staff but died before he reached the hospital.
Long estranged from North Korea's leadership, Kim Jong-nam had lived outside the country for years, staying in Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. The two suspected attackers, and Indonesian woman and a Vietnamese woman, are in custody.
Explosion kills eight in city of Lahore
Explosives in a building under construction ignited yesterday, ripping through a market in an upscale neighbourhood in the eastern city of Lahore, killing eight people, officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the explosives were meant to be a bomb or merely stored in the building.
The blast shattered windows of nearby buildings and damaged vehicles parked outside a market in the Defense Housing Authority, said Rana Sanaullah, provincial law minister. Nearly 30 people were wounded in the blast that the provincial Counter-Terrorism Department said was caused when explosives inside the building ignited.
Mohammad Iqbal, spokesman for the CTD, told reporters that investigators were still trying to determine the purpose of storing explosive material in the building, and whether it was an improvised explosive device or remote control device. AP
Ecuador to hold presidential vote run-off
Ecuador's electoral commission has formally ruled that a runoff election will be needed to choose a successor for socialist President Rafael Correa. The body's announcement confirms its earlier indication that ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno and conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso will face off in an 2 April vote.
Moreno led the nine-candidate field in Sunday's election with 39.4 per cent of the votes, while Lasso finished second at 28.1 per cent. Moreno fell just short of the 40 per cent threshold needed for an outright victory. Correa was first elected president in 2007 and won praise for ushering in stability for Ecuador after a severe economic crisis that saw three presidents driven from office. But he also drew criticism for an authoritarian approach against much of the press, opposition and judiciary. AP
Danish man charged with blasphemy after burning Quran
A Danish man who posed a video of himself setting fire to the Quran on Facebook has been charged with blasphemy in the first such prosecution for 46 years. The 42-year-old suspect put the clip, entitled “Consider your neighbour: it stinks when it burns" to a group called “YES TO FREEDOM – NO TO ISLAM” in December 2015.
Jan Reckendorff, from the public prosecutor’s office in Viborg, said: “It is the prosecution's view that circumstances involving the burning of holy books such as the Bible and the Quran can in some cases be a violation of the blasphemy clause, which covers public scorn or mockery of religion. It is our opinion that the circumstances of this case mean it should be prosecuted so the courts now have an opportunity to take a position on the matter.”
Judges in Aalborg will heard the case, although a date has not yet been set. The maximum sentence for blasphemy is four months in prison but Mr Reckendorff said prosecutors were more likely to seek a fine.