Briefly

UNITED STATES

Half of attacks stem from workplace rows

Half of the mass attacks in the US during 2016-20 were sparked by personal, domestic or workplace disputes, according to a new US Secret Service report that aims to prevent violence by identifying warning signs. The attackers were overwhelmingly men, often with histories of mental health symptoms, financial insecurity or engaging in domestic violence. Guns were typically the weapon of choice. The report came days after a pair of mass shootings in California took the lives of 18 people and as authorities searched for motives in the attacks, both linked to older men.

UNITED NATIONS

Agency paints gloomy outlook for 2023

The United Nations forecast on Wednesday that global economic growth will fall significantly to 1.9 percent this year as a result of the food and energy crisis sparked by the conflict in Ukraine, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, persistently high inflation and the climate emergency. The report said this year's economic growth forecast- down from an estimated 3 percent in 2022- is one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades. But it projects a moderate pickup to 2.7 percent in 2024 if inflation gradually abates and economic headwinds start to subside.

LEBANON

Prosecutor sues judge probing Beirut blast

Lebanon's top public prosecutor on Wednesday charged the judge investigating the Beirut port blast and ordered the release of all 17 suspects detained in connection with the explosion, derailing an attempt to resume the probe into the devastating event. The moves by Ghassan Oweidat signal escalating opposition by Lebanon's ruling establishment to efforts by Judge Tarek Bitar to reopen the probe into the Aug 4, 2020, blast that killed more than 220 people. The prosecutor accused Bitar of "abusing power" by resuming his work despite several complaints filed against him.

MIDDLE EAST

Nine dead in West Bank raid by Israeli troops

Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days in months of unrest. The violence occurred during what Palestinian health officials described as a fierce operation in the Jenin Refugee Camp, a militant stronghold of the West Bank that has been a focus of nearly a year of Israeli arrest raids.

China Daily - Agencies - Xinhua