A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Pirates seize ship with crew of 31
MOGADISHU – Pirates have seized a Panama- flagged chemical tanker with a crew of 31 off the coast of Somalia, the European Union Naval Force for Somalia (EU Navfor) said yesterday.
The anti-piracy taskforce EU Navfor said that the 24,105 tonne MV Hannibal II was taken while sailing to Suez from Malaysia ferrying vegetable oil.
“The master of the vessel reported that he had been attacked and boarded by pirates in an area some 860 nautical miles east of the Horn of Africa, which is considerably closer to India than it is to Somalia,” EU Navfor said in a statement.
The naval force said the ship’s crew consisted of 23 Tunisians, four Filipinos, a Croat, a Georgian, a Russian and a Moroccan. – (Reuters)
15 dead, dozens hurt in Pakistan car bombing
KARACHI – A suspected suicide car bomb struck a security compound in a high security neighbourhood in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, last night, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, officials said.
The attack took place at the Criminal Investigation Department compound, metres from the provincial chief minister’s house, in the central Karachi district known as the “red zone” due to its high security, police said. The US consulate, five- star hotels and other important buildings are also within a couple of kilometres.
“The attackers first opened fire and then rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the building,” senior police official Javed Akbar Riaz said. “We suspect that it was a suicide attack.” – (Reuters)
Councillor held over stoning comments
LONDON – A Conservative local politician has been arrested after he called for a female Muslim journalist to be stoned to death, a police source said yesterday.
Birmingham councillor Gareth Compton was also suspended from the Conservative Party for saying Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a columnist for the Independentand Evening Standard, should be stoned.
Sky News reported that Compton had said in a (now deleted) Twitter message: “Can someone please stone Yasmin Alibhai-Brown to death? I shan’t tell Amnesty if you don’t. It would be a blessing, really.”
Ms Alibhai-Brown told the Guardianshe regarded Compton's comments as incitement to murder. –(Reuters)
Judge takes stand against speeding
BERLIN – A German judge has shot to popularity after letting 42 speeding drivers off without charges in the last week because he thinks speed controls merely serve to fill the state’s coffers rather than prevent accidents.
Bernd Kahre, spokesman for Herford court in northwestern Germany where Judge Helmut Knoener (62) works, said he wanted to make a stand against the practice of prosecuting speeders.
He said Judge Knoener believed speed controls were not conducted to ensure greater road safety, but rather to provide the cash- strapped state with an additional source of income.
Judge Knoener sees no legal justification for using photos in speeding-related court cases. – (Reuters)