PESHAWAR MOSQUE ATTACKED
At least 22 worshipers were killed and 60 injured after gunmen attacked a Shia mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, during Friday prayers. Three gunmen reportedly opened fire on worshipers after three explosions were heard inside the building. The BBC quotes officials as saying that one militant blew himself up, one was arrested and another was killed in the gunfight. But eyewitnesses quoted by Dawn said there were three more attackers who managed to flee the scene. The Taliban is believed responsible. Two weeks ago, the terror group attacked another Shia mosque in the Shikarpur district, killing at least 60 people.
- This comes after Pakistani authorities announced that 12 Taliban suspects in the December attack on a Peshawar school that killed 150 were arrested. Read more from Al Jazeera.
8 MILLION
Photo above: El Rio Mas Sucio del Mundo
Researchers have found that people living within 30 miles of coastlines in 192 countries were responsible for some 8 million metric tons of plastic entering the oceans in 2010. Without improvements in waste management, the figure could rise tenfold by 2025.
BOKO HARAM ATTACKS CHAD
Fighters with the Islamist terror group Boko Haram have launched their first attack on Chadian soil, targeting a village where they killed at least five people, early reports said. Chadian forces recently joined the fight against the group, attacking its positions in neighboring Cameroon and Niger, where the group’s local head is said to have been arrested, according to Reuters.
For more on the ongoing conflict, we offer thisLe Monde/Worldcrunch article, Nigerians Fleeing Boko Haram Tell Of Horrors.
VERBATIM
“If you stay silent when faced with an incident like this, and don't make a statement, the world will stay silent towards you,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in harsh remarks criticizing President Barack Obama’s silence after the murders of three Muslim students in North Carolina. The FBI opened an investigation yesterday and said the murders could represent a hate crime.
MORE FIGHTING AHEAD OF UKRAINE TRUCE
The Ukraine ceasefire leaders negotiated yesterday is supposed to begin Saturday at midnight, and fighting seems likely to continue until the deadline. The BBC reports shelling from government forces in the rebel-controlled cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebel leaders said three civilians were killed, while Kiev reported that eight troops had been killed in fights in the last 24 hours. The deal is fragile, and the EU has already threatened to apply more sanctions against Russia if the agreement is not respected.
WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
Local planners in Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are clearing out homes and businesses that have encroached on the city's main avenues over the years, Syfia’s Dieudonné Malekera reports. “Walking amid the rubble and battered bits of corrugated iron is Kalenga Riziki, the provincial planning minister. ‘People who have built along the path of the road should take it up upon themselves to start destroying those structures,’ he says. ‘If they don't, the State will do the job for them. We’re determined to return the city to how it used to be.’”
Read the full article, How One African City Is Taking Back The Streets, Literally.
VENEZUELA SAYS U.S. ATTEMPTED COUP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the United States of being behind an alleged plot to topple the government, El Universal reports. He said it included plans to bomb the presidential palace with Brazilian-made fighter jets. Officials inside the Venezuelan army, including a general, were detained for their alleged role in the plot, with Maduro saying that hard-line opposition members had also helped U.S. forces to execute the coup. It’s not the first time that Maduro, whose approval ratings are at an all-time low amid extensive economic troubles due in part to falling oil prices, has accused the U.S. of conspiring to topple the Venezuelan government. Asked about the accusations, the U.S. State Department declined to comment, CNN reports.
ON THIS DAY
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On Feb. 13, 1920, Switzerland became a diplomatically neutral country. Time for your 57-second shot of history.
SOUTH AFRICA PARLIAMENT BRAWL
South African President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address didn’t go as planned yesterday, ending in a brawl after the parliament speaker ordered opposition figures to be ejected for repeatedly interrupting Zuma. These things actually happen quite often, for various reasons and in many different countries. Check our piece Lawmakers Gone Wild: Parliament Brawls Around The World.
MY GRAND-PÈRE’S WORLD
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AL-JAZEERA JOURNALISTS FREED
Al Jazeera journalists Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy were freed this morning from the Egyptian prison where they were held for 411 days. Fahmy, a Canadian who gave up his Egyptian citizenship to be extradited, and Mohamed are both facing retrial on charges of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. The next hearing is planned for Feb. 23.
FAREWELL
It’s been a tough week for U.S. journalism. After yesterday’s news of Bob Simon’s death, New York Times media writer David Carr died last night after collapsing at his office, hours after moderating a panel discussion with Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, who worked together on the NSA leaks. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., Times publisher and chairman, described the 58-year-old Carr as “an irreplaceable talent” that will be missed.
PATRIOTISM, NORTH KOREAN STYLE
North Korea has published a list of 310 new propaganda slogans aimed at encouraging patriotism, among other things, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the country’s independence. “Serve the country and people!” is a predictable one. Others include, “Let the wives of officers become dependable assistants to their husbands” and this head-scratcher, “Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms.” The BBC has the full list.
