China in Trump call
BEIJING: China called on the US yesterday not to let Taiwan President Tsai Ingwen transit there when she visits Guatemala next month, days after President-elect Donald Trump irked Beijing by speaking to Tsai in a break with decades of precedent.
China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan. – Reuters
Jerseys for royals
LONDON: The waxwork figures of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and her family were festively decorated with kitsch Christmas jumpers yesterday to help raise awareness of a children’s charity appeal.
The 90-year-old’s waxwork at Madame Tussauds sports a green jumper with a corgi on it to mark Save The Children’s Christmas Jumper Day on December 16. – Reuters
Dachau gate found
OSLO: An iron gate from Dachau concentration camp in Germany with the notorious “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work sets you free”) slogan has been found in western Norway two years after it was stolen, police said, after receiving an anonymous tip.
No arrests had been made. They issued two pictures of the intact gate propped up in a store room. – Reuters
Ambulances shot at
NEW DELHI: Indian security forces in Kashmir blocked medical care for injured protesters by firing on ambulances, holding up emergency vehicles and preying on hospital patients during clashes in the restive region this year, a health rights group said yesterday.
At least 80 civilians were killed and 10 000 wounded in five months. – Reuters
Inferno toll rises
OAKLAND: The death toll has risen to 36 after a blaze that engulfed a converted warehouse during a dance party in Oakland, California.
Authorities expect to find more bodies and were trying to account for about 50 people reported missing.
The cause of the fire, which erupted on Friday in an artists’ collective, has yet to be determined. – Reuters