Month: March 2021

An explosion shook a Roman Catholic cathedral compound in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar on Sunday morning, shattering the calm of Palm Sunday, a holy day for Christians.

No churchgoers were killed, but at least 19 people were being treated for injuries at Makassar hospitals, a regional police spokesman said. The blast was still being investigated, but President Joko Widodo said it was an act of terrorism.

The explosion took place around 10:20 a.m. at the gate to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral compound, said Inspector General Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Police.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Insurgents seized control of much of a town in Mozambique on Saturday, after a three-day siege that has left at least several people dead and hundreds of other civilians unaccounted for as government forces try to regain control, according to private security contractors in East Africa and news reports.

Nearly 200 people, including dozens of foreign workers, sought shelter inside a hotel in the town, Palma, after nearly 300 militants flooded into the area on Wednesday, destroying much of the town and sending hundreds of other residents fleeing into nearby areas.

On Friday afternoon, insurgents attacked

HONG KONG — With its multibillion-dollar price tag and big-name artists, M+, the museum rising on Victoria Harbor, was meant to embody Hong Kong’s ambitions of becoming a global cultural hub. It was to be the city’s first world-class art museum, proof that Hong Kong could do high culture just as well as finance.

It may instead become the symbol of how the Chinese Communist Party is muzzling Hong Kong’s art world.

In recent days, the museum, which is scheduled to open later this year, has come under fierce attack from the city’s pro-Beijing politicians. State-owned newspapers have denounced the

CAIRO — Two trains collided in southern Egypt on Friday, killing at least 32 people and injuring more than 160 in the latest disaster to strike a railway system that has long been plagued by accidents, poor maintenance and mismanagement.

It was not immediately clear whether the authorities suspected sabotage or an accident. But the Egyptian National Railways said someone had activated the emergency brakes in some cars on one train and another train coming from behind crashed into it, causing two passenger cars to overturn.

Tens of ambulances rushed to the scene near the city of Sohag on the

FUKUSHIMA, Japan — When Bruna Noguchi signed up to be a torchbearer for the Tokyo Olympics a year and a half ago — before the coronavirus pandemic, before the resignations of two top officials over sexist remarks — she never dreamed it could be a controversial decision.

But as the relay kicked off on Thursday morning in Fukushima Prefecture, the ceremony and those participating in it were at the center of a national debate, with many questioning whether the Games should go on in spite of the virus, the ballooning costs and other growing challenges.

While more than three dozen