43 held in P’pine raid

MANILA: Forty-three people were arrested on Saturday in a raid in the northern Philippines that a military spokesman said had led to the biggest detention of suspected communist rebels in memory. However, a family member of the raided house’s owner said those detained were medical professionals holding a training workshop. A military spokesman said soldiers raided the house in Morong town east of Manila in search of illegal firearms and found 17 men and 26 women along with weapons.

Washington shut

WASHINGTON: An “extremely dangerous” blizzard expected to bring record snowfall pounded the eastern United States on Saturday, closing down the US capital and threatening to trap millions indoors for days. The National Weather Service put the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area under a 24-hour blizzard warning. The storm, dubbed “Snowpocalypse” and “Snowmageddon” stretched from Indiana to Pennsylvania and into parts of New York and North Carolina, creating treacherous travel conditions, shutting Washington area airports and leading several states to declare emergencies.

UN envoy in Seoul

SEOUL: UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s top political adviser Lynn Pascoe arrived in Seoul on Saturday for talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme, the foreign ministry said. Pascoe, the UN under secretary general for political affairs, is scheduled to visit the North Korean capital from February 9 to 12 as part of a four-nation tour also including China and Japan, Ban’s press office said.