March 10 Photo Brief: World’s largest functional tuba, World Baseball Classic brawl, Burning of the bulls, Chuck Hagel in Kabul
World’s largest functional tuba, World Baseball Classic brawl, Burning of the bulls in Mexico, Chuck Hagel in Kabul and more in today’s daily brief.
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- Eduardo Arredondo #14 of Mexico fights with Jay Johnson #57 of Canada during the World Baseball Classic First Round Group D game at Chase Field on March 9, 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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- A Kenyan police officer stands nearby a burning road block which was set up by an angry mob at Nyalenda slum in Kisumu after the official declaration of the final results of the presidential elections on March 9, 2013. Uhuru Kenyatta was named outright winner of the elections with an overall majority of 50.07 percent, but his opponent, Raila Odinga, said that he will contest the results in the Supreme Court. (Till Muellenmeister/AFP/Getty Images ORG XMIT: 47
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- Residents are showered in sparks as fireworks explode during the annual event “Quema de toritos” (Burning of the bulls) in the municipality of Tultepec near Mexico City March 8, 2013. According to the organizer, the fireworks are dedicated to Saint John of God, the patron saint of pyrotechnics in Tultepec, a city renowned for producing traditional fireworks. Picture taken March 8, 2013. (Bernardo Montoya/Reuters)
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- A member of the faithful feeds pigeons at the St. Peter’s Legio Maria Manyatta church in the western town of Kisumu, 218 miles from the capital Nairobi, March 10, 2013. (Thomas Mukoya/Reuters)
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- An Indian Hindu man dressed as Lord Shiva hold an ‘ajgar’ – snake – as he takes part in a religious procession on the eve of the Maha Shivratri festival in Jalandhar on March 9, 2013. Hindus mark the Maha Shivratri festival by offering special prayers and fasting to worship Lord Shiva, the lord of destruction. (Shammi Mehra/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Residents of Tanjung Labian leave their village near where Filipino gunmen were locked down in a stand off in the surrounding villages of Tanduo in Sabah on March 10, 2013. Malaysian police said on March 9 they had arrested 79 people in Sabah state on the island of Borneo as skirmishes to end a month-long incursion by armed Filipino Islamists left one more dead. (Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Activists with the colours of the Tibetan flag painted on their faces take part in a rally to support Tibet in Taipei March 10, 2013. Hundreds of Tibetans and their supporters in Taiwan marched the streets to commemorate the uprising in Lhasa 54 years ago against Chinese rule. (Pichi Chuang/Reuters)
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- Policemen use water cannons to break up the crowd of protesters during a rally in Baku, March 10, 2013. Police in Azerbaijan fired rubber bullets and water cannon at hundreds of opposition protesters demonstrating on Sunday against violence in the military in the oil-rich country. (Elmar Mustafazadeh/Reuters)
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- U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (L) shakes hands with a female Afghan non-commissioned officer under training, during his visit to the Kabul Military Training Center in Kabul March 10, 2013. It is Hagel’s first official trip since being sworn-in as Obama’s Defense Secretary. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
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- A rebel fighter of the al-Muhajrenla allah brigade points his weapon towards regime forces on February 17, 2013 in Jbiela, Deir Ezzor neighborhoods.Once a thriving hub of Syria’s oil industry, Deir Ezzor is now a ghost town of only a few thousand people struggling tenaciously to hang on against the odds after most of its people fled. (Zac Baillie/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Nuns pray inside St Peter’s basilica at the Vatican ahead of the cardinals conclave on March 10, 2013. Roman Catholic cardinals from around the world will assemble in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel from March 12, 2013 for a conclave to elect a new pope in an unprecedented transition after Benedict XVI’s historic resignation. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A protester, wearing a sweater in the colours of the Bulgarian national flag, sits on the tracks as demonstrators block the main railway station in Sofia March 10, 2013. Hundreds of Bulgarians took to the streets for a fourth Sunday in a row against monopolies and widespread corruption, demanding a stop to the planned sale of the cargo unit of ailing state railway operator BDZ and an audit of all privatisation deals. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)
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- A Pakistani Christian sits in her damaged house after it was burnt by mob a day earlier in Badami Bagh, Lahore March 10, 2013. Hundreds of Pakistani Christians took to the streets across the country on Sunday, demanding better protection after a Christian neighbourhood was torched in the city of Lahore a day earlier in connection with the country’s controversial anti-blasphemy law. (Mani Rana/Reuters)
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- A protestor (C) wearing similar patterns of French luxury brand Louis Vutton demonstrates with others outside the label’s flagship store in Hong Kong on March 10, 2013. The protesters demonstrated against Louis Vutton after the luxury brand accused a local hair salon of using a cover on it’s chairs that appeared to be LV’s trademark pattern demanding compensation and a published apology. (Dale de la Rey/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People sunbathe by the wall of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg March 10, 2013. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)
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- A visitor poses for a portrait during Lisbon Fashion Week March 9, 2013. (Rafael Marchante/Reuters)
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- A man walks past cages of birds hung up at a bird singing corner in Singapore March 10, 2013. (Edgar Su/Reuters)
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- A man carries a sofa on his motorcycle on a highway near Kenya’s capital Nairobi March 10, 2013. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)
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- Golden retrievers meet up during the final day at Crufts Dog Show on March 10, 2013 in Birmingham, England. During this year’s four-day competition over 22,000 dogs and their owners will vie for a variety of accolades but ultimately seeking the coveted ‘Best In Show’. (Rosie Hallam/Getty Images)
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- Cross-country skiers start during the Engadin Ski Marathon on the frozen Lake Sils near the village of Maloja March 10, 2013. More than 12,000 skiers participated in the 26.2 miles race between Maloja and S-chanf near the Swiss mountain resort of St. Moritz. (Michael Buholzer/Reuters)
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- Musical instrument craftsman Manfred Paulus adjusts the valves of world’s largest functional tuba at the Musikinstrumenten-Museum on March 8, 2013 in Markneukirchen, Germany. The tuba is exactly double the dimensions in every respect to a normal tuba, and twenty local artisans crafted it in 2010 as part of celebrations around the town’s 650th anniversary. (Joern Haufe/Getty Images)
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- People work at dusk on various floors of the modern office development at 20 Cannon Street near St Paul’s Cathedral on February 06, 2013 in London, England. A recent study of European working hours has shown that British men have the longest working week of any European Union country. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
Afghan suicide attacks mar U.S. Defense secretary’s visit
By Shashank Bengali and David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times
7:02 p.m. EST, March 9, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan — Two deadly suicide bombings minutes apart Saturday morning marred Chuck Hagel’s maiden visit to Afghanistan as Defense secretary and served as a jarring reminder of the problems still facing the U.S. as it seeks to disengage from the 11-year-old war.
A bicyclist detonated explosives strapped to his body about 30 yards from a main entrance of the Defense Ministry in Kabul about 8:45 a.m., mowing down Afghans who were waiting in line to enter the compound, U.S. officials said.
The bomb killed at least nine civilians and wounded 14 people, including two Afghan army soldiers, the Defense Ministry said in a statement, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in months.
Hagel was getting a briefing at a U.S. facility half a mile away when the blast occurred. The Taliban swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack.
“I wasn’t sure what it was,” Hagel later told reporters. “But we’re in a war zone. I’ve been in war. It shouldn’t be a surprise when bombs go off.”
Less than an hour later, a suicide bomber on foot tried to pass through a police checkpoint in the eastern province of Khowst, killing eight children and a police officer in the provincial capital of the same name, the deputy police chief said.
The provincial police official, Mohammad Yaqub Mandozai, said the bombing took place while police officers at the checkpoint were searching cars. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
U.S. officials had hoped Hagel’s visit would highlight what they say has been progress in turning over security responsibility to the Afghan army and police before the planned pullout of most American troops next year. But the two attacks, at a time when security measures in the Afghan capital were heightened for Hagel’s visit, only deepened questions about the government’s ability to stem the insurgency as the U.S. and its allies leave.
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