In Brief: Gunmen kill four polio workers in Pakistan
QUETTA, Pakistan – Gunmen attacked a polio vaccination team Wednesday, killing four health workers, while a suspected U.S. drone strike killed four alleged militants in Pakistan, officials said.
The attack on the health workers took place in the southwestern city of Quetta, while the drone strike targeted a militant hideout in the North Waziristan tribal region in northwest Pakistan.
Those killed in the attack on the outskirts of Quetta included three women, said police spokesman Shahzada Farhat.
The vaccination team of three women and three men was waiting for a police escort when two gunmen opened fire on them, he said.
U.N. peacekeepers detained in Congo
KINSHASA, Congo – Congolese authorities detained six members of a Ukrainian aviation crew working for the U.N. peacekeeping force on Wednesday after Congolese military uniforms were found in their luggage, the U.N. force said.
The Ukrainians were held after a search of their luggage at the airport in Goma, in North Kivu province, according to the province’s governor, Julien Paluku. The large number of uniforms found included some for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential guard.
Paluku said an investigation has been opened.
The U.N. force, known as MONUSCO, said the Ukrainians were accused of illegally possessing the republican guard uniforms found in their vehicles.
U.N. humanitarian chief to step down
UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced that U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos plans to step down after more than four years of traveling the world to get aid to victims of natural disasters and conflicts from Syria to Central African Republic.
Ban expressed his “utmost gratitude” Wednesday for Amos’ “outstanding service to the United Nations, the humanitarian community and people in need.” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Amos will remain in the job until the end of March while the secretary-general searches for a successor.
Former radio host arrested in sex case
TORONTO – Police arrested a prominent former Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio host on sexual assault charges on Wednesday.
Toronto police said in a statement that former CBC star radio host Jian Ghomeshi has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of what they called “overcome resistance — choking.”
The allegations, first reported in the media in October, rocked the Canadian public broadcaster, a vaunted Canadian institution.
Ghomeshi, 47, had hosted “Q,” a CBC radio show on culture, since 2007. His show was also heard on National Public Radio and Public Radio International stations in the U.S.