10 injured in St. Petersburg market blast
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — At least 10 people were injured Wednesday by an explosion at a supermarket in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city and the site of a deadly subway bombing this year.
The Investigative Committee, the nation’s top investigative agency, said a device containing 7 ounces of explosives went off at a storage area for customers’ bags. It said the device was rigged with shrapnel to cause more damage.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion at a branch of the Perekrestok supermarket chain in the city’s northwest Kalininsky district.
Alexander Klaus, the chief of the local branch of the Investigative Committee, said 10 people were hospitalized.
Authorities said they began a criminal investigation.
In April, a suicide bombing in the St. Petersburg’s subway left 16 people dead and wounded more than 50. Russian authorities identified the bomber who blew himself up on a subway line as Akbardzhon Dzhalilov, a 22-year old Kyrgyz-born Russian national.
13 al-Shabab members killed, U.S. says
JOHANNESBURG — The U.S. military says it has killed 13 members of the al-Shabab extremist group with a new air-strike in southern Somalia.
The statement from the U.S. Africa Command says the strike was carried out Sunday morning. A spokesman said it occurred about 31 miles northwest of Kismayo and that no civilians were killed.
The United States has carried out 34 drone strikes in Somalia this year.
Al-Shabab was blamed for the October truck bombing in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, that killed 512 people. Only a few attacks since 9/11 have left a higher death toll.
Russia to limit Open Skies Treaty bases
Russia plans to limit the number of airbases the United States can use to launch reconnaissance flights under the Open Skies Treaty, in a fresh sign of its deteriorating relationship with Washington.
The restrictions will be introduced Jan. 1 in response to U.S. measures to limit Russian military flights in its airspace, said Georgiy Borisenko, head of the Foreign Ministry’s North American department, according to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.
The move is a rollback of an agreement in place since 1992, one of a series of arms-control deals intended to foster trust and transparency as the relationship between the nuclear superpowers thawed at the end of the Cold War. In June, the U.S. accused Russia of violating the treaty by limiting flights over its Kaliningrad enclave in Europe and later took steps to limit flights over Alaska and Hawaii.
With relations between Washington and Moscow at their lowest point in decades, each side has accused the other of violating agreements, including the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. The United States this month committed to sending defensive weapons to Ukraine, drawing an angry response from Moscow, which supports separatists fighting in two eastern regions.
Amid accusations of Kremlin meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Washington is also stepping up sanctions on Russia.
12-year term pushed for Samsung heir
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a 12-year prison term for Samsung’s jailed billionaire heir, Lee Jae-yong, who maintained his innocence during an appeal of his conviction on bribery and other charges.
In August, a lower court sentenced Lee to five years in prison for offering bribes to former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her confidante while Park was in office. Both Lee and prosecutors, who earlier had requested a 12-year prison term, appealed that ruling.
Prosecutors said Wednesday during Lee’s appeal hearing that they still want Lee to receive 12 years in prison, according to the Seoul High Court. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency cited the court as saying it will issue a ruling Feb. 5.
If the court’s ruling is appealed again by Lee or prosecutors, his case will be handed over to the Supreme Court, which will make a final ruling on him.
Park and her friend, Choi Soon-sil, were arrested and charged with taking bribes from Samsung in return for helping Lee cement his control of the company.