W O R L D

Blizzard threatens US East Coast; 2,600 flights off
Boston, February 8 
A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike the north-east with a vengeance on Friday, with up to 2 feet of snow forecast along the densely populated corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond.

People walk in snow and sleet on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on Friday. — AFP

China dismisses Japan’s charge of locking radars at ships
Beijing, February 8 
China today rejected Japan's allegations that its frigates locked their radars at a Japanese naval ship and helicopter, dismissing it as a petty and false trick aimed to hype up the "China threat".

Iraq bombs kill 36; Sunnis stage protest
Baghdad, February 8 
Car bombs struck two outdoor markets and a group of taxi vans in Shiite areas across Iraq today, killing at least 36 persons and wounding over 100 others in the bloodiest day in more than two months, as minority Sunnis staged mass anti-government protests in a sign of mounting sectarian tensions.

Malala Yousufzai

Pak activist Malala discharged from British hospital
London, February 8 
Almost four months since she was shot in the head, Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai has been released from a UK hospital where she was being treated after being attacked by the Taliban. Yousufzai had made a good recovery from a five-hour operation she underwent on her skull and ear at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Blizzard threatens US East Coast; 2,600 flights off

Boston, February 8
A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike the north-east with a vengeance on Friday, with up to 2 feet of snow forecast along the densely populated corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond.

Halfway through what was looking like a merciful winter, people stocked up on food and other storm supplies, and road crews along the East Coast readied salt and sand ahead of what forecasters warned could be one for the record books.

Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, called off school on Friday, and airlines cancelled more than 2,600 flights and counting, with the disruptions certain to ripple across the US.

"Everybody's going to get plastered with snow," said Massachusetts-based National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Dunham.

The snow is expected to start on Friday morning, with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts could reach 65 mph (105 kph). Widespread power failures were feared, along with flooding in coastal areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy in October.

New York City was expecting up to 14 inches of snow. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 2,50,000 tonnes of salt were being put on standby.

"We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell," he said.

Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York's Long Island, as well as portions of the New England region, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine.

In New England, it could prove to be among the top 10 snowstorms in history, and perhaps even break Boston's record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003, forecasters said. The storm is arriving just after the 35th anniversary of the blizzard of 1978, which paralysed New England with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane-force winds from February 5-7.

The last major snowfall in southern New England was well over a year ago - the Halloween storm of 2011. In New Hampshire, Dartmouth College student Evan Diamond and other members of the ski team were getting ready for races at the Ivy League school's winter carnival.

"We're pretty excited about it because this has been an unusual winter for us. We've been going back and forth between having really solid cold snaps and then the rain washing everything away." he said. — AP

white-out Threat
* Up to two-foot snow is expected along the densely populated corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond 

* The snow is expected to start on Friday morning, with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday

China dismisses Japan’s charge of locking radars at ships

Beijing, February 8
China today rejected Japan's allegations that its frigates locked their radars at a Japanese naval ship and helicopter, dismissing it as a petty and false trick aimed to hype up the "China threat".

"Japan's remarks are completely making something out of nothing," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said today.

The Defence Ministry here came out with a detailed rejoinder denying Tokyo's charge that Chinese frigates while patrolling the disputed islands in the East China Sea, resorted to offensive tactics by locking radars on Japanese forces last month, triggering fresh tensions.

The Chinese Defence Ministry which claimed to have conducted a "sincere" probe into the allegations said that Japan's "irresponsible" remarks were made to mislead international public opinion.

"Recently, Japan has repeatedly spread false accusations that have distorted facts and defamed Chinese military's normal combat readiness training," the statement reported by state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Japan's defence ministry has alleged that a Chinese naval frigate directed its fire-control radar at a destroyer of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JSDF) in the East China Sea on January 30.

Also another Chinese frigate was suspected of locking a similar radar on a JSDF helicopter on January 19 in the East China Sea while patrolling the disputed islands called Diaoyu by China and Senkakus by Japan. — PTI 

Japan summons Chinese envoy

Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador to Tokyo, Cheng Yonghua, over Beijing's denial that one of its ships had locked a weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese naval vessel, the foreign ministry said on Friday. — AFP 

Iraq bombs kill 36; Sunnis stage protest

Baghdad, February 8
Car bombs struck two outdoor markets and a group of taxi vans in Shiite areas across Iraq today, killing at least 36 persons and wounding over 100 others in the bloodiest day in more than two months, as minority Sunnis staged mass anti-government protests in a sign of mounting sectarian tensions.

A destroyed car at the scene of an explosion at the bird market in north Baghdad on Friday. — AFP

Tens of thousands of Sunni protesters rallied in five major cities against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite accused of monopolising power.

Sunni protest leaders have rejected a recent call by an Al-Qaida-linked group in Iraq to take up arms against the government, but there is concern militants are trying to exploit the discontent.

In the city of Samarra, rally speaker Sheik Mohammed Jumaa sent a warning to the prime minister. "Stop tyranny and oppression," he said. "We want our rights. You will witness what other tyrants have witnessed before you."

Earlier today, suspected Sunni insurgents detonated five car bombs, killing at least 36 persons and wounding 97, health and police officials said.

Today's bombings targeted an outdoor pet market in Baghdad's northern Kazimyah neighbourhood, a vegetable market in the town of Shomali in Hillah province, south of the Iraqi capital, and a stand for taxi vans on the edge of the southern city of Karbala.— AP

Pak ex-soldier heads fidayeen unit to free jailed militants 

Islamabad, February 8
A special fidayeen unit headed by a former Pakistan Air Force personnel has been formed by the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to attack jails and free imprisoned militants, according to a media report today.

The "Ansar Al-Aseer" (supporters of prisoners) unit is led by Adnan Rasheed, a former Pakistan Air Force personnel who escaped from a jail in the north-western town of Bannu after it was attacked by some 200 Taliban fighters on April 15 last year.

Rasheed was convicted for an attempt to assassinate former President Pervez Musharraf. He was recently seen with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan in a video in which the banned group made a fresh offer for talks with the government.

A total of 384 prisoners, including many hardened militants, escaped during last year's attack on the Central Jail in Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. — PTI

Pak activist Malala discharged from British hospital

London, February 8 
Almost four months since she was shot in the head, Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai has been released from a UK hospital where she was being treated after being attacked by the Taliban.

Yousufzai had made a good recovery from a five-hour operation she underwent on her skull and ear at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Medical staff said she was well enough to be discharged as an in-patient following the surgery last weekend, Sky News reported.

The hospital said the 15-year-old will now continue her rehabilitation at her family's temporary home in Birmingham and will visit occasionally for outpatient appointments. It said her family had asked for the media to respect their privacy and dignity at this time. — PTI 

BRIEFLY

Sikh rights group seeks US support for ‘genocide’ petition
New York: Representatives of a prominent Sikh rights group have met State Department officials, seeking support for a petition which has asked the US to recognise the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India as a 'genocide'. The group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) met representatives from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour; Office of India Affairs; Office of Religious Freedom and the Office of Legal Adviser of the US Department of State. It (group) submitted a legal brief, statements of survivors and other information to the officials, legal adviser of the group Gurpatwant Pannun said. — AFP

2 dead as ferry capsizes in B’desh
Dhaka: A ferry carrying about 100 persons capsized after colliding with a sand-laden boat on Bangladesh's giant Meghna river on Friday leaving at least two persons dead and scores missing, officials said. The ferry sank in the Meghna river this morning after a sand-laden boat hit the vessel 'MV SM Sarash' carrying around 100 passengers was on its way to Chandpur from Narayanganj, officials said. — PTI

7.1-quake strikes off Solomon Islands
Honiara: A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit off the Solomon Islands on Friday, two days after an 8.0-magnitude quake sparked a tsunami, but there was no threat of widespread destructive waves this time, US agencies said. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 10.12 pm (1112 GMT) near the Santa Cruz Islands, which are part of the Solomons, at a relatively shallow depth of 9 km. — AFP

12 killed, 20 hurt in Pak blast
Islamabad: A powerful bomb went off in a shop selling DVDs and mobile phones in the restive Orakzai tribal region of northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 12 persons and injuring over 20 others, officials said. The bomb exploded in the shop in a market in Kalaya, the main town of Orakzai Agency, officials of the local political administration said. — PTI

Bronte sisters’ home gets makeover
London: The former home of the three Bronte sisters, where British classics like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights were written, has been returned to the design of the authors' era after researchers found fragments of its original decor. The house, which is now a museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire, reopens after a refurbishment on Friday. — PTI

Hong Kong’s poorest live in metal cages
HONG KONG: For the richest people in Hong Kong home is a mansion with an expansive view from the heights of Victoria Peak. For some of the poorest, like Leung Cho-yin, home is a metal cage. The 67-year-old former butcher pays $167 a month for one of about a dozen wire mesh cages resembling rabbit hutches crammed into a dilapidated apartment in a gritty, working-class West Kowloon neighborhood. The cages, stacked on top of each other, measure 1.5 sq m. To keep bedbugs away, Leung and his roommates put thin pads, bamboo mats on their cages' wooden planks instead of mattresses. —AP

Indian jailed, fined $1.1 m for frauds 
New York: An Indian-origin jewellery trader, a former president and CEO of an upscale jewelry manufacturing company, has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay a $1.1 million fine for his role in a scheme to illegally import protected black coral into the US. Ashu Bhandari is the former president and CEO of GEM Manufacturing, which is based in the US Virgin Islands. — AFP