NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Shrine killings: The custodian of a local shrine and his accomplices killed 20 devotees after intoxicating them in eastern Punjab province of Pakistan, police said Sunday, in what officials said was a dispute over custodianship of the shrine. Police said the shrine custodian in a village near the city of Sargodha was arrested Sunday along with four others for killing worshipers with batons and knives. Liaquat Ali Chatta, area government administrator, said the suspect, identified as Abdul Waheed, is a retired government employee and seemed mentally unstable. Zulfiquar Hameed, a regional police officer, said the incident was the “outcome of jealousy and dispute over custodianship” of the shrine. “This man was afraid of losing prominence and that the position would go to somebody else,” said Hameed, who is heading the probe of the incident.
_2 Russia arrests: Police in Moscow detained about three dozen people at unauthorized rallies Sunday, a week after antigovernment rallies broke out across the country. The police presence was notably heavy in central Moscow. Pedestrians could access Red Square only by passing through metal detectors, and police blocked off Pushkin Square, traditionally a gathering point for demonstrations. Last week’s protests, in which more than 1,000 people were arrested in Moscow alone, were the largest opposition show of defiance in several years.
_3 Tunnel opens: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a 7-mile-long tunnel through the Himalayan terrain Sunday to help ease travel on a highway linking the troubled Kashmir Valley with the rest of India. The route is expected to help trade and tourism. The highway is blocked sometimes for hours and even days because of heavy snow, monsoon rains and landslides. It took engineers six years to build the tunnel, which cost $382 million. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947.
_4 Illegal fishing: Indonesian authorities destroyed 81 foreign ships over the weekend after seizing the vessels for fishing illegally in the country’s waters. The archipelago nation has taken a tough stance against illegal fishing since President Joko Widodo took office in 2014. Authorities have destroyed 317 foreign vessels since then, including the most recent. The ships were blown up at sea in 12 locations around the archipelago on Saturday. Most were from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.
_5 Dubai fire: A fire burned Sunday in a high-rise tower complex being built alongside Dubai’s largest mall, its thick black smoke shrouding the world’s tallest building nearby in the United Arab Emirates. No injuries were reported. The blaze happened just a block away from the 63-story Address Downtown Dubai tower, which burned in an inferno seen around the world on New Year’s Eve on 2015.
_6 Explosive heist: South Africa police are hunting for a gang of armed robbers who blew up an armored vehicle in busy traffic in Johannesburg, escaping with an undisclosed amount of money. The robbers, traveling in a BMW and a Mercedes-Benz, shot out the tires of the armored truck Saturday as it was traveling toward the airport, according to police. “The guards were forced out of the vehicle before the suspects blew their cash van up with explosives,” police said in a statement. “The suspects took an undisclosed amount of money in cash boxes.”