NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Indonesia quake: Hundreds of tourists stranded on Mount Rinjani on the island of Lombok by an earthquake that killed 16 people and triggered landslides were making their way off the mountain, shaken by their experience but mostly unharmed, an official said Monday. More than 250 people reached a relief post in the village of Sembalun and a team of rescuers has reached hundreds more near the mountain’s crater lake. The magnitude 6.4 earthquake early Sunday set off landslides on the mountain that’s carpeted in boulders and rocks, blocking paths out. The quake damaged more than 1,400 houses.
2 China protest: More than two dozen parents, shouting phrases including “Justice for the victims,” gathered in Beijing on Monday to protest a vaccine scandal that has become one of the most visible public health crises in China in recent years. The protest followed reports this month that hundreds of thousands of children across China had been injected with faulty vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. While the children appear to be unharmed, the episode undermined President Xi Jinping’s vow to eliminate corruption and abuse in the nation’s food and drug industries. The latest crisis is the third involving vaccines in China since 2010.
3 Relations restored: Eritrea and Somalia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations, both countries announced Monday in another thaw in the restive Horn of Africa region, while Somalia’s leader called for sanctions on Eritrea to be removed. Eritrea’s information minister shared the joint statement on Twitter as Somalia’s president ended a historic three-day visit to one of the world’s most closedoff nations. The countries have not had diplomatic ties for nearly 15 years. The visit by Somalia’s leader follows a stunning diplomatic thaw between Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia after more than two decades.
4 India citizenship: The government released a draft list of citizens living in the northeastern state of Assam on Monday that excluded about 4 million people, raising concerns about the possible detention and deportation of ethnic minorities there. The list is part of a process to update citizenship records in Assam, which has borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh. Officials in Assam have justified the move partly by citing unchecked immigration to the state from Bangladesh. Many, however, feel that the update has disproportionately left off Muslim migrants and would pave the way for discrimination against minorities. Security in Assam was tightened before the draft was released in an effort to curb protests.
5 Tajikistan attack: Four tourists — including two unidentified Americans — traveling through Tajikistan on bicycles were killed when a car drove into them Sunday, and officials in the former Soviet republic considered an extremist plot among the possible motives for the “attack” after officers detained suspects armed with knives and guns, the country’s interior minister said Monday. The Interior Ministry said it was holding four people for potential involvement in “the collision and killing” after the vehicle plowed into a group of seven bicyclists about 60 miles from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. Four of the cyclists died. Interior Minister Ramazon Rakhimzoda said one of the survivors had knife wounds and police found knives and guns with some of the suspects. He called the car crash “an attack,” but said it was too soon to say if it was accidental or deliberate. “We are considering all possibilities, including a road accident, murder and others,” Rakhimzoda said.