13/03/2025

THURSDAY | MAR 13, 2025

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Suicide bombers complicate train hostage rescue

Trove of dinosaur footprints found at Australian school SYDNEY: A trove of fossilised dinosaur footprints has been found on a slab of rock gathering dust at an Australian school. The rock went largely unnoticed for 20 years until the school, in Queensland’s rural Banana shire, asked paleontologist Anthony Romilio to examine a cluster of three-toed track marks. Romilio said yesterday the slab was stamped with dozens of fossilised footprints dating to the early Jurassic period some 200 million years ago. It showed “one of the highest concentrations of dinosaur footprints” ever documented in Australia, he said. “It’s an unprecedented snapshot of dinosaur abundance, movement and behaviour from a time when no fossilised dinosaur bones have been found in Australia,” said Romilio, from the University of Queensland. “Significant fossils like this can sit unnoticed for years, even in plain sight. “It’s incredible to think that a piece of history this rich was resting in a schoolyard all this time.” Coal miners dug up the slab in 2002 and, noticing the unusual footprints, gifted it to a school in the small town of Biloela, where it was eventually displayed in the foyer. The rock sat there until researchers started asking around for any dinosaur fossils discovered in the area. “Some of the teachers thought this was a replica rather than the real thing,” Romilio said. “Everyone didn’t quite realise what they actually had. “They definitely knew it was a dinosaur footprint. But not the level of detail that a researcher like myself would go into.” Romilio said 66 separate track impressions were found on the slab, which had a surface area of less than one square metre. They belonged to a dinosaur called Anomoepus scambus – a small and chunky plant eater that walked on two legs, he said. – AFP Detained tycoon turns to White House WASHINGTON: Hopes for the release of detained Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai are higher following President Donald Trump’s return to office, Lai’s son said on Tuesday in Washington, where he and advocates plan to meet Trump administration officials. Lai, the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper that was forced to close after a police raid and asset freeze in June 2021, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and a charge of conspiracy to publish seditious material. National security legislation in Hong Kong has been used to jail activists after street protests there in 2019. The United States and other foreign governments have criticised the law as a tool for authorities to clamp down on dissent. Lai’s case is a source of friction between Washington and Beijing, with Trump having said last year during his campaign for the presidency that he would “100%” get Lai out of China. Sebastien Lai told reporters that even as his father’s health declines in harsh, solitary confinement in Hong Kong, the pro-democracy advocate is still fighting for his beliefs at 77. “President Trump was the first president of the United States who mentioned my father by name,” he said, adding that his father’s cause had always received bipartisan support in the US. “The short of it is, yes, we’re a lot more hopeful,” he said, when asked if his confidence had grown with Trump in the White House. He said Lai’s advocates had already met this week with State Department officials, and would meet officials at the White House National Security Council. – Reuters

o Pakistan launches ‘full-scale’ operation

and groups from outside the province. The group has demanded an exchange with security forces for its imprisoned members. Authorities restrict access to some areas of Balochistan, where many energy and infrastructure projects are backed by China, which has invested billions in the region, including in a major port and airport. The driver of the train, a police officer and a soldier were killed in the assault, according to paramedic Nazim Farooq and railway official Muhammad Aslam. One passenger described gunmen sorting through identity cards to confirm who was from outside the province. “They came and checked IDs and service cards and shot two soldiers in front of me and took away the other four” said one passenger who asked not to be identified, after walking four hours to the nearest train station. “Those who were Punjabis were taken away by the terrorists,” he said. Around 80 of the released passengers were taken to the provincial capital Quetta, said a police official. – AFP

Three people have been killed, including the train driver. A security official said “a full-scale operation” would aim to free the rest of the captives. “Security forces have safely rescued 155 passengers ... 27 terrorists have been eliminated,” a security source said. An earlier count included at least “31 women and 15 children”. It was not immediately clear how many people remained onboard. Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway official in the provincial capital Quetta, said on Tuesday the 450 passengers on board had been taken hostage. Passengers freed on Tuesday described walking for hours through mountainous terrain to reach safety. “I can’t find the words to describe how we managed to escape. It was terrifying,” said Muhammad Bilal, who had been travelling with his mother on the Jafar Express train. The assault was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group that has staged attacks against security forces

SIBI: Pakistan forces launched a “full-scale” operation yesterday to rescue train passengers taken hostage by gunmen in the mountainous southwest, with security sources saying 155 had been freed. More than 450 passengers were on board when gunmen captured the train at the entrance of a tunnel in a remote district, with an unknown number still being held. “Information suggests that some gunmen have fled, taking an unknown number of hostages,” said a security official. Gunmen bombed a section of the railway track and stormed the train on Tuesday in southwest Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, where attacks have been on the rise. According to security sources, the “terrorists have positioned suicide bombers right next to hostage passengers”.

Rescued passengers with their belongings in Quetta yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

HK social worker convicted over 2019 riot HONG KONG: A social worker was found guilty of rioting during the city’s 2019 democracy protests, with the court on Tuesday rejecting her claim of being a mediator and ruling that she encouraged people to resist police. After being arrested in August 2019, she pleaded not guilty and argued that she was trying to de-escalate clashes and did not intend to take part in riots.

Circumstantial evidence led to the overriding conclusion that Chen intended to take part in the riot, the judge wrote. Those found guilty of rioting in the district court face a maximum prison term of seven years. After the verdict, Chen told supporters in the public gallery to “take care”. “Just because (the government) disagrees with us, that doesn’t mean we did anything wrong,” she said before the hearing, adding that she would face the outcome with equanimity. Chen was remanded in custody for sentencing on April 9. She previously criticised the decision to push for a retrial, saying younger defendants were kept from moving on with their lives. – AFP

She was acquitted in 2020 but her case was sent to a retrial after prosecutors appealed. Deputy district judge May Chung ruled on Tuesday that Chen had shouted “provocative” words that wrongly implied police had used excessive force. “Through her words and acts, (Chen) expressed her support of the protesters ... which bolstered their determination and confidence to resist the police,” the judge wrote. Chung said Chen brought a gas mask and wore a T-shirt that read “We are social workers defending justice”, which showed she had prepared for the protests.

Following a massive protest movement in 2019, Hong Kong authorities launched a crackdown on dissent and have taken nearly 3,000 people to court. More than 800 have been charged with rioting, a crime broadly interpreted by local courts to cover many of those present at scenes of violence. Jackie Chen, 48, was part of a small group of social workers who appeared on tense street standoffs in 2019 carrying loudhailers, urging police to stay calm and to allow time for protesters to leave.