Briefly

PAKISTAN

8 arrested in Karachi over food stampede

Pakistani police arrested eight people on Saturday in the southern port city of Karachi after a stampede killed 12 people at a Ramadan food and cash distribution point a day earlier. Hundreds of women and children rushed to collect free food and cash outside a factory in an industrial area of the city on Friday. Business owners during the Islamic holy month often hand out cash and food, especially to the poor. An initial report from the police said nine women, aged between 40 and 80, and three children, aged between 10 and 15, died in the crush. At least 23 people have died in Ramadan food stampedes since the start of the holy month.

MIDDLE EAST

Violence simmers as 2 Palestinians killed

A Palestinian motorist rammed his car into a group of soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, leaving three of them injured, the Israeli military said. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, an Israeli soldier fired at the driver, killing him on the spot. In Jerusalem, a man detained by Israeli police near a flashpoint holy site grabbed an officer's gun and fired it, prompting the unit to shoot him dead, the police said, an account doubted by Arab leaders and probed by authorities. The incidents came at a high point of Muslim attendance for the holy month of Ramadan amid heightened fears of an escalation in violence.

CANADA

Eight migrants die trying to cross border

Police in Canada have identified two victims among eight bodies recovered from two families who died this week trying to enter the United States from Canada by boat across the St. Lawrence River. The eight people consisted of two families of Romanian and Indian origins who were probably trying to enter the US, police told a news conference. US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed two weeks ago to stop asylum-seekers coming to Canada through unofficial border crossings, a move critics said could prompt refugees and migrants to take more risks when crossing.

SYRIA

Iranian adviser dies in Israeli airstrike

A military adviser to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps died of his injuries after an Israeli airstrike near Syria's capital, Iranian semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on Sunday. Israel has for years carried out attacks against what it has alleged are Iran-linked targets in Syria. Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus. Dozens of Revolutionary Guards members including senior officers have been killed in Syria during the civil conflict. "Meqdad Mehghani was wounded during the Zionist attack on Friday dawn and was martyred," Mehr news said.

MEXICO

Ancient statue Earth monster recovered

Mexico has recovered from New York a giant stone statue known as an Earth monster that dates to the Olmec civilization before the Christian era, authorities said. The elaborately carved statue weighs more than a metric ton and is nearly 1.8 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide, the National Anthropology and History Institute said. The institute said the statue was created sometime between 800-400 BC. As part of the Mexican government's effort to rescue historical heritage taken from the country, almost 10,000 goods have been recovered since 2018, authorities said.

Agencies Via Xinhua