World news in brief
Pope gives mass to a crowd of 1 million in Congo
The people of Congo were yesterday urged to forgive those who have harmed them, as the Pope presided over a mass before an estimated 1 million people in a country wracked by decades of violence. Many of the faithful spent the night on the airfields of Ndolo airport outside the capital Kinshasa for the first papal visit to the country since St John Paul II’s in 1985.
“He showed them his wounds because forgiveness is born from wounds,” Francis said. “It is born when our wounds do not leave
scars of hatred. Our weakness becomes an opportunity, and forgiveness becomes the path to peace.”
Referring to the decades of violence especially in eastern Congo that has forced millions to flee their homes, Francis stressed that forgiving doesn’t mean pretending that nothing bad has happened. But he said the act of forgiveness creates an “amnesty of the heart”. The morning mass was Francis’s first big event in Congo after he arrived Tuesday. In his opening speech to government authorities, he also condemned the centuries-long plundering of Africa’s mineral and natural wealth by foreign powers. AP
Polish skiers killed following Kashmir avalanche
Two Polish skiers have died in an avalanche at a Himalayan ski resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, with 21 other people rescued. A total of 21 foreigners and their two Kashmiri guides were caught in a massive avalanche and buried under the snow as they were skiing high in the mountains near the tourist town of Gulmarg, according to a police statement.
The Pirpanjal mountain range in the western Himalayas is a popular skiing destination for both Indians and foreigners. In 2010, at least 17 Indian soldiers were killed after an avalanche hit the Indian army’s High Altitude Warfare School in Gulmarg during a training session.
Avalanches and landslides are common in Kashmir and have caused heavy death tolls for the Indian and Pakistani armies camped near the militarised Line of Control. In 2017, at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in three avalanches, and in 2012 a massive avalanche in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir killed 140 people, including 129 Pakistani soldiers. AP
Police investigating mosque blast find ‘excellent clues’
Pakistan’s police said it has landed on “some excellent clues” over the deadly suicide bombing at a mosque in the city of
Peshawar and added that the possibility of an inside job could not be ruled out.
The death toll from the deadliest attack in a decade rose to 101 yesterday as those who were left injured succumbed to their wounds in hospital, said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s health department. Peshawar police chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters that they have made “major arrests” in connection with the blast but did not elaborate, citing a continuing investigation.
“We have found some excellent clues, and based on these clues we have made some major arrests,” police chief Khan said. “We can’t rule out internal assistance but since the investigation is still in progress, I will not be able to share more details.”
Modi government promises jobs and tax breaks in budget
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government announced its federal budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 for India with the aim of bringing down fiscal deficit and unveiling one of the country’s biggest spikes in capital spending. Federal finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a slew of measures from the Indian parliament in capital Delhi as markets opened in the green yesterday.
The measures include more funds for India’s booming startup ecosystem, a further raise in the income tax exemption ceiling and more financial backing for the agricultural sector, civil infrastructure projects, rural housing schemes and the promise of further job creation in the new financial year starting April 2023.
The moves, which also include financial boosts for states, government welfare schemes and development projects, is the Modi administration’s eighth federal budget. “After a subdued period of the pandemic, private investments are growing again,” Ms Sitharaman said in parliament to the more than 500 lawmakers gathered there. The finance minister said that in the 75th year of India’s independence, “the world has recognised the Indian Economy as a ‘bright star’”.
She said the country’s economic growth was “estimated at 7 per cent [for the upcoming financial year], which is the highest among all major economies”. Ms Sitharaman added this was despite the massive global downturn caused by Covid-19 and the Ukraine invasion.
Erdogan: Turkey OK with Finland Nato bid but not Sweden
Turkey looks positively on Finland’s application for Nato membership but does not support Sweden’s bid, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday. “Our position on Finland is positive, but it is not positive on Sweden,” Mr Erdogan said of their Nato applications in a speech to his AK Party deputies in parliament.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the transatlantic defence pact after Russia invaded Ukraine, but faced unexpected objections from Turkey and have since sought to win its support. Ankara wants Helsinki and Stockholm in particular to take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is considered a terror group by Turkey and the European Union, and another group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
The three nations reached an agreement on a way forward in Madrid last June, but Ankara suspended talks last month as tensions rose following protests in Stockholm in which a farright Danish politician burned a copy of the Muslim holy book, the quran. “Sweden should not bother to try at this point. We will not say ‘yes’ to their Nato application as long as they allow burning of the Koran,” Mr Erdogan said.
On the weekend, he signalled that Ankara could agree to Finland joining Nato ahead of Sweden. But Finland’s foreign minister Pekka Haavisto said on Monday his country was sticking to its joint application plan. Of Nato’s 30 members, only Turkey and Hungary are yet to ratify the Nordic countries’ memberships. Reuters
German troops injured in crash
Twelve German troops were injured when two Puma infantry fighting vehicles crashed during an exercise in a military training area in eastern Germany, the German army said yesterday. Military police were investigating the incident, a spokesperson for the army told Reuters. The spokesperson said one of the soldiers had been seriously hurt and taken to hospital but his injuries were not life-threatening according to the latest information.
The incident with the Puma vehicles, which each weigh some 40 tons, happened at the military training ground Altmark, about 50 kilometres from Magdeburg. Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius, meanwhile, visited a tank battalion in the western town of Augustdorf, which is home to the 14 Leopard 2 tanks Berlin has pledged to deliver to Ukraine. The Puma, built by KMW and Rheinmetall, is meant to replace Germany’s old Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
However, Berlin withdrew the vehicle from a key Nato mission late last year after problems in a drill. Germany now expects to field the Puma for Nato’s quick reaction force VJTF in the first half of 2023, its chief of defence said in mid-January. Reuters
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