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Journalism of Courage
22 killed in Algeria
ALGIERS: Suspected Muslim extremists killed at least 22 people on Sunday in a series of attacks, Algerian newspapers reported. The papers said the killings occurred in the central region of Medea, in Saida and Tlemcen in the west, in M8217;sila in the south and in Algiers. As news of the deaths came in, Algeria was yet to get over the shock over the massacre on Tuesday in which 412 civilians were killed in the Relizan region, making it the worst carnage in six years of sectarian violence in the North African state.
Bragaglia dead
ROME: Italian film director Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, noted for his comedies and epic costume dramas, died here on Sunday aged 103, his family said. He had been admitted to hospital nearly three weeks ago for an operation on his leg after he had a fall. Beginning his career in the 1930s, he made more than 60 films. Hannibal, his 1959 film with Edgar George Ulmer, was considered one of his best. In later life, he built his own tomb on the Island of Capri, where he used to bring flowers every November. He said it increased his life expectancy.
Bangla cold toll
DHAKA: Twenty people died in one of the worst cold spells in Bangladesh, taking the death toll to 165, news reports said on Monday. Temperatures dropped to 6.2 degrees Celsius, Ittefaq and others dailies reported. The 20 deaths were recorded in the north-northwestern districts of Takurgaon, Pabna, Kurigram and Lalmonirhat. The Independent, however, put the toll at 165 since the cold spell started in mid-December. Most of the victims were poor elderly villagers and infants, who were homeless and without warm clothes.
Train collision
DUSHANBE: At least six people were killed and 20 injured when two trains collided in northern Tajikistan on Sunday. A spokesman for Leninabad Regional Administration said a passenger train proceeding from Urgench in Uzbekistan to Andizhan in Tajikistan collided with a shunting locomotive near Karachkum. The collision caused a fire which destroyed four carriages.
Europe gale
LONDON: Gale force winds ripped across Europe this weekend, causing several deaths, and cutting power to thousands of homes in Britain and France. The 10-man crew of a crippled trawler near southern England were rescued by helicopter. More than 100,000 homes from Cornwall and South Wales to the English Midlands were without power. At Mumbles in South Wales, the local coast guard recorded a wind dust of 115 miles per hour. In France, authorities banned motorists and pedestrians from some coastal areas as storms battered the western shore and cut off islands.
Author dead
TOKYO: Well-known Japanese science fiction writer Shinichi Hoshi died at 71 from a lung inflammation, his family said. Hoshi was regarded as the Japanese pioneer of the science fiction short story. He took up issues concerning modern society and treated them in a satirical manner. His first story in 1957 was Sekisutora. Among his best-known works are Jinzo Bijin artificial sunlight and Youkoso Chikyu-San Hello Mr Earth. Hoshi won the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award in 1968.
