BEIJING — Cases of people being forcibly evicted from their homes and land have risen significantly in China, becoming the single greatest source of public discontent and a serious threat to the country’s social and political stability, Amnesty International said Thursday.
Forced demolitions long have been a way of life in China. Decades of economic growth have been driven by real estate development, much of it on the backs of millions of residents forced to relocate to make way for factories and business ventures.
But evictions have escalated over the past three years during a nationwide construction boom spurred by massive stimulus spending after the global financial crisis, Amnesty International said in its report.
The report cites Chinese housing rights activists, lawyers and academics, but does not provide estimates for the total number of evictions.
The Chinese government dismissed the report as biased and lacking in any credibility.
PAKISTAN
U.S. missiles kill 10 in northwest
PARACHINAR — U.S. drones fired four missiles at a compound of a Pakistani militant commander in a northwestern tribal region on Thursday, killing 10 militants, while a pair of bombings in another part of the country killed 10 civilians and three security personnel, officials said.
A government administrator in Orakzai region, Salim Khan, said 15 insurgents also were wounded in the drone attack near Biland village bordering the North Waziristan tribal region.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the dead and wounded men were fighters loyal to militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is based in North Waziristan.
HONG KONG
1 dead, 3 made ill by beauty treatment
Hong Kong authorities said one woman has died and three others have been hospitalized after undergoing a beauty treatment involving blood transfusions.
Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority said a 46-year-old woman died Wednesday of septic shock after receiving the treatment at a beauty clinic.
The treatment is being tested as a method to fight cancer, but in this case it was used for cosmetic purposes.
The case has raised concerns about potentially risky medical treatments at the city’s numerous clinics offering procedures claimed to enhance a person’s appearance.
PAKISTAN
Bombings kill 13 in southwest
QUETTA — A bomb at a crowded market in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Baluchistan killed 10 people on Thursday, while a roadside bombing elsewhere in the troubled region killed three security officials, police said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings, but nationalists in Baluchistan have long waged a low-level insurgency to pressure the government to get more wealth from resources such as natural gas that are extracted from the province.
Islamist militants, including the al Qaeda-affiliated group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, also operate in Baluchistan.
INDIA
Police: 3 Muslims were planning attacks
NEW DELHI — Indian police have arrested three Muslim militants suspected of planning terror attacks in New Delhi during a major Hindu festival season that starts later this month, a top police official said Thursday.
The three are members of the Indian Mujahideen, an Islamic militant group, police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said. The group has links to Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has claimed responsibility for some previous terrorist attacks in India.
• From wire dispatches and staff reports
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