World

NEW YORK — A "generational" Arctic blast brought dangerously cold temperatures to swaths of the north-eastern United States and Canada on Saturday, with forecasters warning that frostbite can occur in just five minutes.

Atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire state, the wind-chill factor reached minus 78oC overnight, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

That broke the previous low recorded there of minus 74 C, the Weather Channel said.

At almost 1,920 metres, Mount Washington is the highest peak in northeast America and is known for having some of the world's worst weather.

Temperatures of minus 43 C and wind gusts of over 177 kmh combined for the historic low.

The NWS office in Caribou, Maine, said a wind chill of minus 51 C was recorded in the small town of Frenchville, just south of the border with Canada.

"This is an epic, generational arctic outbreak," the office had warned in an advisory ahead of the front.

It said the chills would be "something northern and eastern Maine has not seen since similar outbreaks in 1982 and 1988".

"Most stations are forecast to see their lowest wind chills in decades or, in some cases, the lowest ever recorded," the service added.

It warned that frostbite to exposed skin can occur within five minutes in such conditions.

"The dangers of being caught unprepared without shelter from the elements and without proper winter survival gear cannot be stressed enough," the service wrote.

The NWS said the blast brought temperatures 10 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below average over parts of the US Northeast and the coastal Mid-Atlantic.

Extreme weather warnings covering several million people were in effect across much of New England, Quebec and eastern Canada.

A wind chill factor of minus 41oC was measured at Montreal International Airport.

The Hydro Quebec energy company said the polar blast had sparked record high electricity consumption late Friday and urged customers to turn down their heating by a degree or two.

In New York City, a “code blue” regulation was in effect, meaning no homeless shelter could turn anyone anyway.

In New York’s Central Park, the mercury dipped to minus 16°C, the NWS said.

Wind chill temperatures fell below minus 34°C in Boston, where public schools were closed on Friday as a precautionary measure.

Warmer air is due to move into the region late on Sunday.

MONTREAL — How do we go from protecting eight per cent of marine areas to 30 per cent in less than 10 years? This question is at the heart of a global forum in Canada this weekend aiming to save marine ecosystems under threat from overfishing, pollution and climate change.

On the heels of the historic biodiversity agreement signed at COP15 in Montreal late last year, about 3,000 officials, scientists, NGOs and Indigenous groups are meeting in Vancouver for the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5), which opened Friday and runs until February 9.

Scientists have said the meeting is crucial for setting up a framework to reach the agreed target at COP15 of protecting 30 per cent of the planet's lands and oceans by 2030.

It's an immense step for ocean conservation, which will see a tripling of areas made off-limits to most human activities, with an aim to preserve sensitive ecosystems and species at risk.

The summit, usually held every four years, is taking place two years late due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We must re-think our policies, economies, priorities, and processes in ways that reflect the important role nature plays in our own health, equity, well-being and economic sustainability," said host Canada, which has some of the world's longest coastlines.

Covering almost three-quarters of the earth's surface, oceans are home to a quarter of known species and absorb 30 per cent of CO2 emissions from human activities.

"COP15 marked a historic inflection point in conservation efforts for nature... but the pressure is on now not just to reach the numerical target, but to make sure that we do it right, that our marine protected areas are in the right places [and] that they're managed well," Pepe Clarke of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) told AFP.

Some experts fear the "politics of figures".

Biodiversity hotspots or particularly vulnerable areas that deserve urgent conservation measures have been identified, scientists have said.

Now it is essential to have discussions to “establish a global network, ecologically representative and which adequately protects the whole range of ecosystem types”, according to Clarke.

Especially since protecting and managing our oceans more sustainably will make them more resistant to climate change.

But even if the world achieves “the ambitious target of protecting 30 per cent of the oceans by 2030 within high-quality [marine protected areas], the goals of the framework cannot be fully met without appropriate management of the other 70 per cent of the oceans”, said the Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-profit.

For Sian Owen, director of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), “It is crucial that both existing and emerging industries that threaten our deep ocean are quickly and unequivocally rejected and that we sustainably manage the remaining 70 per cent.”

UN member states will meet again at the end of February to try and hammer out a treaty for the protection of the high seas, a session that should in principle be the last.

Protecting international waters, which cover nearly half the planet, is crucial for the health of the entire ocean and its biodiversity, and for limiting global warming.

“Governments must restrict activities that destroy and disturb vital ecosystems that support life on Earth,” said DSCC.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suicide blast at a mosque inside a Pakistan police headquarters was a targeted revenge attack, a police chief said on Tuesday, as rescue efforts ended with the death toll standing at 100.

Between 300 and 400 policemen had gathered for afternoon prayers at the compound's mosque on Monday in the provincial capital Peshawar when an entire wall and most of the roof were blown out, showering rubble on officers.

"We are on the frontline taking action against militants and that is why we were targeted," city police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan told AFP.

“The purpose was to demoralise us as a force.”

On Tuesday evening rescuers finally ended a marathon operation which saw them pry survivors and corpses out of the wreck of the mosque, rushing those who could be saved to hospitals.

Low-level militancy, often targeting security checkpoints, has been steadily rising in the areas near Peshawar that border Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021.

The assaults are claimed mostly by the Pakistani Taliban, as well as the local chapter of the Daesh, but mass casualty attacks remain rare.

The head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province police force, Moazzam Jah Ansari, told reporters that a suicide bomber had entered the mosque as a guest, carrying 10-12 kilogrammes of “explosive material in bits and pieces”.

He added that a militant group that was on-and-off affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban could be behind the attack.

Authorities are investigating how a major security breach could happen in one of the most tightly controlled areas of the city, housing intelligence and counter-terrorism bureaus, and next door to the regional secretariat.

The nation is already being hobbled by a massive economic downturn and political chaos, ahead of elections due by October.

Search for survivors 

Interior minister Rana Sanaullah told Pakistan’s national assembly the dead included 97 police officers and three civilians, with 27 patients still in critical condition.

“I remained trapped under the rubble with a dead body over me for seven hours. I had lost all hope of survival,” Wajahat Ali, a 23-year-old police constable whose feet were broken, told AFP from hospital on Tuesday.

Survivor Shahid Ali said the explosion took place seconds after the imam started prayers.

“I saw black smoke rising to the sky. I ran out to save my life,” the 47-year-old police officer told AFP.

Dozens of slain police officers have already been buried in several mass prayer ceremonies, with coffins lined up in rows and draped in the Pakistani flag while a guard of honour was performed.

“Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement.

Rising militancy 

In a statement, the Pakistani Taliban — separate from the Afghan Taliban but with a similar Islamist ideology — denied it was responsible for the latest blast.

Known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, it carried out a years-long wave of horrific violence after emerging in 2007 but recently has attempted to rebrand itself as a less brutal outfit, claiming not to target places of worship.

But a security official in Peshawar, who asked not to be named, said Tuesday that authorities were considering all possibilities including the involvement of a TTP splinter faction, the Daesh or a coordinated attack by several groups.

“Often in the past militant groups, including the TTP, that carry out attacks in mosques do not claim them” because a mosque is considered a sacred place, the official told AFP.

Pakistan was once plagued by almost daily bombings, but a major military clearance operation which started in 2014 largely restored order.

Analysts say militants in the former tribal areas adjacent to Peshawar and bordering Afghanistan have become emboldened since the return of the Afghan Taliban, with Islamabad accusing the new rulers of failing to secure their mountainous frontier.

“Terrorism has become a national security crisis for Pakistan again, as it was a decade ago, and it will worsen unless concerted action is taken to address it,” Brookings Institution analyst Madiha Afzal told AFP.

Mass casualty attacks remain relatively rare, with Daesh claiming the most recent blast on a Shiite mosque in Peshawar last March that killed 64.

Provinces around the country announced they were on high alert after the blast, with checkpoints ramped up and extra security forces deployed, while in the capital Islamabad snipers were posted on buildings and at city entrance points.

The drastic security breach came on the day United Arab Emirates President Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan had been due to visit Islamabad, although the trip was cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather.

Pakistan is also hosting an International Monetary Fund delegation from Tuesday as it works towards unlocking a vital bailout loan to prevent a looming default.

KINSHASA — Pope Francis landed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Tuesday, hailing his “beautiful trip” to Africa as he comes bearing a message of peace to the conflict-torn nation and its troubled neighbour South Sudan

Large crowds of well-wishers gathered at Kinshasa’s Ndjili airport, about 25 kilometres from the centre, to greet the Argentine Pontiff, whose plane touched down at 2:35pm local time (1:45 pm GMT).

“We’ve been waiting for a year, it’s a beautiful trip,” the 86-year-old pope told reporters travelling aboard his plane.

It is the first time since 1985 that a pope has visited the DRC, a desperately poor country of about 100 million people, 40 per cent of whom are Catholic.

“I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see him face to face,” Maggie Kayembe, a woman in her thirties, told AFP as she waited for the Pope. “He always preaches peace wherever he goes, and peace, we really need it,” she added.

The six-day trip to the DRC and South Sudan had been planned for July 2022, but postponed due to the pontiff’s knee pain that has forced him in recent months to use a wheelchair.

He boarded the plane in Rome via an elevator.

Security concerns were also said to play a role in delaying the trip, and a stop in Goma in the DRC’s east, where dozens of armed groups operate, is no longer on the itinerary.

“I would have liked to go to Goma too, but with the war, you can’t go there,” the Pope told reporters on the plane.

On Sunday, he had offered his greetings “with affection to those beloved peoples who await me”.

“These lands, situated in the centre of the great African continent, have suffered greatly from lengthy conflicts,” he said after his Angelus prayer at the Vatican.

He lamented “armed clashes and exploitation” in the DRC, and said South Sudan, “wracked by years of war, longs for an end to the constant violence”.

As the papal plane flew over the Sahara, the Pope held a prayer for “all the people who, searching for a little well-being, a bit of freedom, crossed [the desert] and didn’t make it”.

He recalled how many people arrive in north Africa hoping to cross the Mediterranean into Europe, only to find themselves “taken to camps, and suffering there. Let us pray for all those people”.

Victims of violence 

Despite its vast mineral wealth, some two-thirds of the DRC’s population live on less than $2.15 a day, while violence plagues the eastern provinces.

The Tutsi-led armed group M23, which Kinshasa alleges is backed by neighbouring Rwanda, has been conquering large swaths of territory in North Kivu province.

The region has also seen a wave of deadly attacks blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces, a group the Daesh claims as an affiliate, including a bomb blast at a Pentecostal church this month that killed 14 people.

Following a welcome ceremony at the Kinshasa airport, Francis will be received at the presidential palace by President Felix Tshisekedi.

The Pontiff will then make his first of a dozen speeches during the trip, addressing authorities, the diplomatic corps, and representatives of civil society.

“He can deliver a strong message to politicians by addressing the issue of corruption” ahead of a general election schedulled for December, said Samuel Pommeret with Catholic humanitarian group CCFD-Terre Solidaire, which operates in the area.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a prayer vigil Tuesday evening at N’dolo airport ahead of a mass on Wednesday morning, which is tipped to draw more than a million faithful.

Papal memorabilia was already selling well in Kinshasa in the run-up to the visit, with Elisabeth Akwete, 66, among those buying a calendar bearing the image of Francis.

“It’s a joy to have the image of the head of the church at home,” she told AFP.

During his visit to the DRC, the Pope will also meet victims of violence as well as members of the clergy and charities operating in the country.

Pilgrimage of peace 

On Friday, Francis will travel to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, also one of the world’s poorest countries, that has lurched from one crisis to another since gaining independence in 2011.

It suffered a brutal five-year civil war, while continued conflict between rival ethnic groups exacts a terrible toll on civilians.

The Pope will be joined in Juba by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the leader of the Church of Scotland, on what he has called “an ecumenical pilgrimage of peace”.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Over 60 people, most of them police, were killed in a blast at a mosque inside a highly sensitive Pakistan police headquarters on Monday, prompting the government to put the country on high alert.

The attack happened during afternoon worship in the provincial capital of Peshawar, close to former tribal areas along the Afghan border where militancy has been steadily rising.

A frantic rescue mission was underway overnight at the mosque, which had an entire wall and some of its roof blown out by the possible suicide attack.

"Many policemen are buried under the rubble," said Peshawar police chief Muhammad Ijaz Khan, who estimated between 300 and 400 officers usually attended prayers.

"Efforts are being made to get them out safely," he added.

Bloodied survivors emerged limping from the wreckage, while bodies were ferried away in ambulances.

"It's an emergency situation," Muhammad Asim Khan, a spokesman for the main hospital in Peshawar, told AFP.

The death toll continued to rise as more bodies were pulled from the debris, rising to 61 killed with more than 150 wounded. 

As darkness fell, several men were still trapped in the wreckage, visible through cracks in the concrete.

"We have given them oxygen so that they don't have problems in breathing," said Bilal Ahmad Faizi, a spokesperson for the rescue organisation 1122.

At least 20 of the killed police officers were later buried after a prayer ceremony with coffins lined up in rows and draped in the Pakistani flag.

They were laid to rest with a guard of honour, a police official told AFP.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, amid a worsening security situation in the country.

The police headquarters in Peshawar is in one of the most tightly controlled areas of the city, housing intelligence and counter-terrorism bureaus, and is next door to the regional secretariat.

Provinces around the country announced they were on high alert after the blast, with checkpoints ramped up and extra security forces deployed, while in the capital Islamabad snipers were deployed on buildings and at city entrance points.

“Terrorists want to create fear by targeting those who perform the duty of defending Pakistan,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a statement.

Officers said the blast came from the second row of worshippers, with investigators were probing the possibility of a suicide attack.

Shahid Ali, a policeman who survived, said the explosion took place seconds after the imam started prayers.

“I saw black smoke rising to the sky. I ran out to save my life,” the 47-year-old told AFP. 

“The screams of the people are still echoing in my mind.”

The drastic security breach came on the day United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had been due to visit Islamabad, although the trip was cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather.

Pakistan is also preparing to host an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation on Tuesday as it works towards unlocking a vital bailout loan to prevent a looming default.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday condemned the blast as “abhorrent” and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken extended his condolences for the “horrific attack”.