Chinese reporters, often thought of as mouthpieces for Beijing, appeared to be pushed out of that role Wednesday when authorities physically intervened while several state media reporters were gathering news or doing live coverage from the scene of a deadly blast in Hebei province. The actions of local authorities triggered a quick response from the All-China Journalists Association, which issued a statement defending the role of journalists acting in their professional manner in Chinese society. The death toll from the blast that hollowed out a four-story building has risen to seven, according to state media reports, with dozens more injured. Local authorities told Chinese media on Thursday that the blast was caused by underground gas pipe leaks, not business entities that were housed in the building, as previously reported. Chinese reporters from multiple media outlets rushed to the scene within hours of the explosion, among them reporters from China Central Television, a key player in China’s state media conglomerate, along with People’s Daily and Xinhua. During CCTV Channel 2’s midday broadcast Wednesday, while two Beijing anchors questioned the station’s reporter on the scene live, viewers saw men, dressed in black, approach the reporter and block the camera. The reporter was cut off midsentence, causing the two anchors sitting in their studio in Beijing to say “be safe,” before turning to “other news.” In another incident from the blast scene, a team of reporters from another CCTV department, wearing media vests, were grabbed by about a dozen security officers before they were marched away, as seen in a video clip posted online by one of the reporters. The two incidents prompted the All-China Journalists Association to issue a statement Wednesday evening on WeChat. It briefly recounted the incidents, then raised and answered three questions. “Should journalists be out reporting?” the association asked. It answered yes, adding, “The public wants to know more about this grave and significant public safety incident.” It then asked whether reporters on the scene were causing trouble, to which it said no, adding that safeguarding the public’s right to know is part of journalists’ job. It also highlighted the CCTV teams’ professionalism on the scene. Finally, the association asked whether an official press release or its equivalent could replace reporting, to which the association answered no. “In the absence of trained reporters filing from the scene, the pubic is left with two sources of information,” the association said. “One is through official statements; the second is various information spread on the internet. However, an official statement won’t cover the details, while information spread on the internet could potentially spread rumors. Hence the role of professional media is critical.” The association concluded its statement by saying authorities should not crudely interfere or interrupt journalists at work. Members of China’s state media rarely are seen being physically harassed by authorities, especially not on live television. Even more rare is for a national trade association, in this case one representing China’s own journalists, to come out in defense of their members’ right to work and to be treated with respect. As Thursday began, a little more than 24 hours after Wednesday's deadly blast, the incident and associated developments was the number one searched topic on China’s social media platform Weibo, clocking in 440 million views, a third of China’s 1.4 billion population. By Thursday evening, however, the topic was nowhere to be seen among the top 10 “hot search” topics on Weibo. Many commentators on Weibo expressed support for the reporters and pointed to law enforcement figures’ actions as an example of the unchecked power wielded by multiple layers of the one-party state. When Hebei local authorities explained that the CCTV reporters’ live feed was interrupted out of “safety concerns,” one Weibo user responded: “The real threat to our safety is the violation of the public’s right to know and journalists’ right to do their job.” On Thursday, a statement was posted by the “command center in charge of the blast and fire incident,” acknowledging mishandling of the situation in which reporters were “forced to leave the scene.” “Looks like the authorities’ weiwen techniques were used on state media representatives, how ironic,” noted a Chinese commentator on Twitter/X. Weiwen is the term the government uses to describe efforts to maintain social stability. It is widely seen at home and abroad as the government’s means to suppress dissent, or potential dissent, often violently.   Source: VOA

Health minister Samanta Lal Sen said about 90-100 percent of the bodies of most of the victims were burnt in the gas cylinder blast in Gazipur. All of them are in critical condition. He said this to the reporters while visiting the burnt victims admitted to the hospital on Wednesday (March 13) evening. Five adults and seven children are undergoing treatment at the ICU of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, he added. At least 35 people, including women and children were burnt in the incident at around 5:30 pm. According to some sources, a cooking gas cylinder started leaking at a house in the colony. The resident of the house brought the it to the main door and threw the gas cylinder on the road, leading to the unfortunate explosion.  

A huge gas blast in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has killed at least three people and injured nearly 300. A lorry carrying gas exploded in Embakasi district at about 23:30 (20:30 GMT), "igniting a huge ball of fire", a government spokesperson said. Housing, businesses and cars were damaged, with video showing a huge blaze raging close to blocks of flats.   Earlier, the government had said the blast happened at a gas plant. The cause is still being established. Embakasi police chief Wesley Kimeto said a child was among those who died in the explosion, adding that the death toll could rise. The Kenya Red Cross said it had taken 271 people to hospital and treated 27 others on site.   The fireball from the blast had "spread widely", according to Isaac Mwaura Mwaura, the government spokesman, and a flying gas cylinder had hit a garments and textiles warehouse, burning it down. "The inferno further damaged several vehicles and commercial properties, including many small and medium sized businesses," he said in a statement. "Sadly, residential houses in the neighbourhood also caught fire, with a good number of residents still inside, as it was late at night." Witnesses told local media they had felt tremors immediately after the blast. Many of the injured are said to have inhalation injuries and they include at least 25 children, the Standard newspaper reports. One of those hurt, Boniface Sifuna, described what had happened to Reuters news agency: "I got burnt by an exploding gas canister as I was trying to escape," he said. "It exploded right in front of me and the impact knocked me down and the flames engulfed me. I am lucky that I was strong enough to get away." James Ngoge, who lives across the street from where the blast happened, told the AFP news agency that he was in his house at the time and "heard a huge explosion". "It felt like it was going to collapse. At first, we didn't even know what was happening, it was like an earthquake. "I have a business on the road that was completely destroyed."   A journalist for the Nation newspaper living in the area said everyone had left their houses after the blast. The Kenya Red Cross said on social media that crews had been "tirelessly battling the flames". Government spokesman Mr Mwaura said the blast scene had been secured and a command centre had been set up to help co-ordinate rescue operations. "Kenyans are hereby advised to keep off the cordoned area in order to allow the rescue mission to be carried out [with] minimal disruptions," he added. Source: BBC

Police officials said the blast took place in Hussainabad area of the district in which a camp of labourers of a construction company was targeted. The company is constructing a road in the area. Soon after the blast, police and personnel of other security forces rushed to the site and shifted the injured to the district hospital where one of them succumbed to his injuries. He was identified as Saddam Hussain Khosa who received multiple injuries in the powerful blast. The injured included police constables Usman Ali and Mehtab Ali and labourer Dahib Khan Jigrani. “The condition of three injured is stated to be serious who were shifted to La­­rkana in Sindh for treatment,” SP Sohbatpur Khadim Hussain told Dawn, adding that un­known miscreants used a time bomb which went off near the camp of labourers. Further investigation was in progress, he added. Security forces launch­­ed a search operation in the area to arrest the elements involved in the bomb attack. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.   Source: DAWN

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was highly critical of the failure of a UN Security Council resolution vetoed by the US concerning the conflict.  "The United Nations Security Council, which has become even more ineffective, has once again not fulfilled its mandate," Erdogan wrote in a very lengthy social media post.  "Western countries, which leave no stone unturned when it comes to human rights and freedoms, have taken no steps other than adding fuel to the fire," Erdogan alleged.  He also said "biased and two-faced" media organizations had "entered a race to whitewash human slaughter."  Erdogan had on Tuesday immediately blamed Israel for the al-Ahli hospital blast in Gaza City, alleging that the country's attacks were "devoid of the most basic human values." In his post on Wednesday, he made no mention of who the perpetrators were. However, he also said nothing about the now-disputed source of the explosion and wrote about the incident immediately after listing what he termed Israeli atrocities, leaving readers with a clear indication still of where he was assigning blame.  He said the attack "constitutes a crime against humanity and amounts to genocide against the people of Gaza."  Typically, Turkey and Erdogan are extremely sensitive about the use of the word genocide, particularly when governments use it in reference to the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in Anatolia during and also before World War I amid the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the founding of modern-day Turkey.  Following in the footsteps of several European governments, including France and Germany, US President Joe Biden recognized the event as a genocide in 2021.        

US President Joe Biden is on his way to Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a show of support for Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas terror attacks on October 7. Biden's short visit was also supposed to include a summit with Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman, Jordan, but this was canceled after a hospital blast in Gaza enflamed tensions even further.  Tuesday's blast at the hospital killed more than 500 people and sparked outrage with the Hamas-led Health Ministry in the enclave pointing the finger at Israel.  The Israeli military said it had no involvement and pinned the blame on a misfired Palestinian rocket. Biden will meet with Netanyahu and the Israeli war cabinet and seek a sense of Israel's plans in the days and weeks ahead, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One during the flight to Tel Aviv. "He'll be asking some tough questions, he'll be asking them as a friend, as a true friend of Israel, but he'll be asking some questions of them," Kirby said. Biden's trip to Israel follows German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to Israel on Tuesday. Scholz stressed the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip during his visit. This was before the hospital attack in Gaza. "In contrast to Hamas, who use the citizens of Gaza as human shields, we are concerned about them. We want to protect civilians and avoid civilian victims," he told Netanyahu on Tuesday. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, United States, Israel, Germany and others. 

At least 52 people were killed and dozens more injured in a suicide bombing attack outside a mosque in Mastung, a district in Balochistan province, Pakistan, police said. Friday's attack came as a large crowd had gathered outside the mosque to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (S.). Some people were in critical condition and a senior police officer was also among the dead, government administrator Attah Ullah said.  President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked authorities to assist the wounded and the victims' families. In a separate incident in neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, at least five people were killed when two explosions at a mosque. Islamist militants have attacked both provinces that border Afghanistan in recent years. These militants aim to overthrow Pakistan's government and impose strict Islamic law. A religious holiday, and an uptick in attacks in the country Millions of Muslims around the world are celebrating the birthday of Islam's Prophet Muhammad — otherwise known as Mawlid al-Nabi. Believers may go to mosques to pray and read the Quran or hold public festivities to celebrate the life of the prophet. In a statement, caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti denounced the bombing and expressed sorrow over the loss of lives, saying it was a "heinous act" to target people on Mawlid al-Nabi. Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is the largest and least-populous province in Pakistan.  Ethnic separatist groups including the Balochistan Liberation Army have long waged a low-level insurgency against the Pakistani government. Pakistani Taliban also have a strong presence in the province. The country has seen an increasing number of attacks this year, especially by Islamist militants, following the breakdown of a cease-fire agreement between the Pakistani Taliban and the national government last year.

Eleven people were killed in a suspected militant attack in northern Pakistan, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on Sunday. Kakar posted on X, previously known as Twitter, that a "terrorist attack" in North Waziristan "claimed the lives of 11 innocent laborers." According to security and police officials, a suspected improvised explosive device (IED) detonated beneath a truck transporting workers to an army construction site in Waziristan, situated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghanistan border. No organization has yet taken responsibility for the incident. Rise in Islamist militant attacks Over the past year, Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in attacks orchestrated by Islamist militants, especially after the dissolution of a cease-fire agreement between the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and the national government. Other extremist groups, including the so-called "Islamic State," have claimed responsibility for several attacks. A major explosion at a political gathering in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa organized by a religious faction last month resulted in the deaths of 45 individuals.

The bomb exploded at a political rally for the Jamiat Ulema Islam party being held in northwestern Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Dozens of people were killed after a bomb went off at a political rally in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday. Pakistani officials told news agencies at least 44 people were killed in the town of Khar in Bajaur district, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban. "We fear the death toll will increase," Rescue Department spokesperson Bilal Faizi said. Police authorities said they believe the explosion was the result of a suicide bombing. Nearly 200 were injured, including children, with many taken to hospital. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the worst in the country in recent years. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, condemend the bombing, saying "Such crimes cannot be justified in any way." Images of the incident showed bodies strewn around the scene, and volunteers carrying blood-soaked victims to ambulances. "There was all dust and smoke around and I was under the some injured people from where I hardly (could stand) up but only to see chaos and some scattered limbs," one witness told the Associated Press. Islamist party rocked by bomb The bomb exploded inside a packed venue where a rally was being held for the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, known for its links to hard-line Islam. "It is now an attack on out party. It is an assault on Pakistan, its democracy," party spokesperson Hafiz Hamdullah said, struggling to hold back tears at a press conference in the capital Islamabad. He said a local leader was among the dead while two national MPs were also wounded in the "savage" bombing.  "A senior leader from the party was due to address the ceremony, but before his arrival a bomb explosion took place," Akhtar Hayat Gandapur, the inspector general of police for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told the AFP news agency. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the local chapter of the so-called "Islamic State" group has recently carried out attacks against the party. The jihadist group accuses the hard-line political party of hypocrisy for being an Islamic group that has supported successive governments and the military. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi both condemned the attack.

The explosion at a cafe in Russia's second-largest city also injured 15 people, according to Russian news agencies. Well-known Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in a blast at a cafe in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Sunday, Russian news agencies reported. At least 16 people were injured, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing the Interior Ministry. "One person was killed in the incident. He was military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky. Sixteen people were injured," Interfax quoted the ministry as saying.  The explosion took place at a cafe that had reportedly at one time belonged to Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private army that is fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, was speaking at an event of Cyber Front Z, a group that refers to itself as "Russia's information troops." "There was a terrorist attack. We took certain security measures, but unfortunately, they were not enough," the group said on Telegram. Russia's TASS news agency quoted a law enforcement source saying the blast was "caused by an improvised explosive device hidden inside a statue given to Tatarsky as a gift." It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast.