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page 19 S/ARABIA Gov’t introduces e-bracelets for Hajj safety Saudi Arabia has announed plans to introduce electronic identification bracelets for all pilgrims heading to Mecca as part of a safety drive. Containing personal and medical information, the e-bracelets will help authorities provide care and identify people, the official Saudi Press Agency SPA said on Thursday. […]

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S/ARABIA

Gov’t introduces e-bracelets for Hajj safety

Saudi Arabia has announed plans to introduce electronic identification bracelets for all pilgrims heading to Mecca as part of a safety drive.

Containing personal and medical information, the e-bracelets will help authorities provide care and identify people, the official Saudi Press Agency SPA said on Thursday.

Water-resistant and connected to GPS, the devices will also instruct worshippers on timings of prayers and a multi-lingual help desk to guide especially non-Arabic speaking pilgrims around the various rituals of the annual Islamic event.

Every year, millions of Muslims travel to Mecca and Medina, Islam’s holiest sites, which are under the custody of Saudi Arabia.

Last year, authorities say 769 pilgrims died in the stampede in the Mecca district of Mina when thousands of pilgrims converged on a walkway intersection.The majority of the victims were Iranian nationals.

To address the security issues, nearly a thousand new surveillance cameras have been installed at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, monitoring pilgrim movements, Saudi newspapers have reported.

CAMEROON

Suicide bombers kill 13 in north

Cameroon says it is deploying more troops to its far northern border with Nigeria after a suicide attack late Wednesday killed at least 13 people in the border town of Limani.

Two teenage suicide bombers crossed the border from Nigeria’s Borno state late Wednesday, according to Cameroon’s Far North region governor Midjiyawa Bakary.

One detonated his explosives at a popular spot where youth had gathered to watch films while the other went to a local mosque. The governor said officials believe the bomber may have intended to hide there and attack the faithful who attend morning Ramadan prayers in large numbers.

Midjiyawa said 13 people are confirmed dead and many more are wounded.

The governor said Boko Haram has been targeting the area over the past month.

He said the terrorist group has been using the long and porous border to steal food and money and transport them to Nigeria.

LIBERIA

U.N. peacekeeping mission leaves Liberia after 13 years

A U.N. peacekeeping mission that was sent to Liberia in 2003 to restore order after two brutal civil wars withdrew on Thursday, beginning a new phase of self-reliance for the impoverished West African country.

Liberia has relied heavily on the mission of 15,000 U.N. troops, known as UNMIL, which had been winding down for several months before control was officially handed over to domestic forces on Thursday.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said much had been done to prepare for the transition, but that more was still needed.

The government has said that new barracks have been built across the country to increase security outside the capital.

As of Friday, 1,240 U.N. military and 606 police personnel will remain on the ground, but will be there only in case of emergency.

UK

Ex-London mayor Johnson quits race to be PM

Top Brexit campaigner and former London mayor Boris Johnson said in a shock announcement Thursday he will not run in the race to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron.

“Having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in parliament, I’ve concluded that person cannot be me,” he said after his eurosceptic ally Michael Gove undermined his chances by launching his own leadership bid.

Interior Minister Theresa May, who also announce she was running, is now the clear favourite as a unifying candidate after a referendum campaign that exposed deep rifts within the Conservative Party.

“My role will be to give every possible support to the next Conservative administration,” Johnson said in a speech in London in which he had been widely expected to announce his bid for Cameron’s job.

Johnson said the vote was “a chance to unite our country and our society”, adding: “It is vital that we bring everyone together within the party”.

AFGHANISTAN

Taliban attack on police cadets kills 27

Two Taliban suicide bombers on Thursday killed at least 27 people and wounded around 40 in an attack on buses carrying newly graduated cadets on the western outskirts of Kabul, officials said.

The green buses, clearly identifiable as police vehicles, were attacked and partially destroyed as they approached the capital from neighbouring Wardak province, leaving debris strewed across the road.

An Interior Ministry official said at least 27 people were killed and 40 wounded in the attack during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. In a statement, the Taliban said around 150 police had been killed and dozens more injured.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the first attack targeted a bus carrying police cadets and instructors. Then, as rescuers and emergency services arrived, a second bomber rammed his car, packed with explosives, into their vehicles, killing dozens.

PHILIPPINE

Tough-talking president takes office

A harsh-spoken man known for ruthlessly enforcing laws at the city level took office as president of the Philippines Thursday with pledges to get just as tough on crime nationally. But there are hopes he will pursue a broader agenda as head of state.

Rodrigo Duterte, former mayor of the second largest Philippine city, Davao, was inaugurated after beating four other candidates in last month’s election with 39 percent of the vote. The 71-year-old outsider to national politics was elected largely because of his record for cutting crime in Davao. His city was once a drug sales hub and a base for a violent leftist rebel group.

Duterte pledged in his inauguration speech in Manila to rout corruption and drugs. Using his characteristically sharp language, he also took on the widespread suspicion that he had deployed death squads to enforce order in Davao.

TURKEY

Foreigners attacked Istanbul airport: officials

The three men who carried out Tuesday’s deadly attack on Istanbul airport were of Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationality, Turkish media and officials say.

Turkey believes IS was behind the suicide gun and bomb attack that left 43 people dead and more than 230 hurt.

Police carried out raids on Tuesday, detaining at least 13 suspects in Istanbul and more in the city of Izmir.

More details of the victims have emerged, many of them airport workers.

Some agencies named one of the men as Osman Vadinov, said to have crossed into Turkey from the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria in 2015. He is believed to be from the Russian Caucasus.

Turkish police detained 13 people, three of them foreigners, in raids across Istanbul in connection with Tuesday night’s attack.

IVORY COAST

Hero professor backs student mothers

An Ivory Coast professor, who was photographed carrying a student’s baby in class in a widely shared image, has said being a mother should not stop women getting an education.

Honore Kahi offered to take the baby as he was crying and preventing the mother from sitting in class.

He said his students were surprised, began to laugh and then took pictures.

He said they then realised that “this is a good father, this is a real man… [and] a role model”.

Some of those sharing the photograph on social media praised him as a hero.

SOMALIA

Roadside explosion kills 20

Somali officials say at least 20 people have been killed in a massive roadside explosion that engulfed a passenger bus on the main highway linking Mogadishu to Afgoye, 30 kilometers west of the capital.

A police officer at the scene, Abidkadir Mohamed, said it was a remotely controlled bomb along the road that exploded.

Deputy Chairman of Afgoye, Abdullahi Hassan, who went to the scene, said the blast destroyed the minibus.

“We have a big tragedy here,” he said. “Everyone is dead, you only see pieces of dead bodies, hands, legs.”

RUSSIA

Putin lifts ban on charter holidays to Turkey

Russian President Vladimir Putin has lifted curbs on tour firms selling holidays in Turkey, brought in after a Russian jet was downed last year.

The move was announced in a decree (in Russian), in which Mr Putin also ordered trade talks with Turkey.

The ban on charter flights hurt the tourist industry in Turkey, a favourite destination for many Russians.

The Kremlin accepted a letter from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an apology this week.

Mr Putin spoke to Mr Erdogan by phone on Wednesday, telling him he planned to lift the travel sanctions.