PAKISTAN
Suicide bomber targets rally
A suicide bomber struck police escorting a protest rally in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Monday, killing at least 13 people and wounding nearly 60 in an attack claimed by a breakaway Taliban faction. The blast ripped through the crowd of hundreds of pharmacists, who were protesting new amendments to a law governing drug sales. Six police officers were among those killed, authorities said.
Judge bans Valentine’s Day
A Pakistani judge on Monday banned all Valentine’s Day celebrations in the country’s capital, Islamabad, saying they are against Islamic teachings. A court official said the order had been sent to Pakistan’s media regulator to ensure a blackout on any Valentine’s Day promotions in print or electronic media.
TAIWAN
Bus crash leaves 32 dead
Investigators were looking into excessive speed as the possible cause of a bus crash in Taiwan that killed 32 people and injured several others in the island’s worst road accident in more than three decades, an official said Tuesday. The bus flipped over Monday evening while cornering on an expressway ramp in Taiwan’s capital Taipei after taking a tour group to view cherry blossoms. A police spokesman said the speed limit on the ramp was 25 mph but it was not clear how fast the bus had been going.
HONG KONG
Police guilty in filmed beating
Seven Hong Kong police officers were convicted Tuesday of a lesser charge in the assault of a pro-democracy activist whose videotaped beating during the height of 2014 pro-democracy protests sparked outrage. A district court judge found the seven officers guilty of one joint count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Tuesday. They had originally been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.
SYRIA
Video shows damage to ruins
Russia on Monday released footage from one of its drones in Syria, revealing for the first time the latest destruction to the ruins of historic Palmyra since it was recaptured by Islamic State militants, as Syrian government forces pushed ahead on the ground in a new offensive to take the city back. The drone footage showed IS militants have badly damaged the facade of the Roman-era theater and the Tetrapylon — a set of four monuments with four columns each at the center of the colonnaded road leading to the theater.
Compiled from wire reports
