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page 21 SOUTH SUDAN S/Sudan ‘back to war’, says VP’s spokesman South Sudan is “back to war”, a spokesman for the vice-president has said, as rebel factions clash. Forces loyal to Vice-President Riek Machar say their positions in the capital, Juba, have been attacked by government troops. Col William Gatjiath, Mr Machar’s military spokesman, said […]

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SOUTH SUDAN

S/Sudan ‘back to war’, says VP’s spokesman

South Sudan is “back to war”, a spokesman for the vice-president has said, as rebel factions clash.

Forces loyal to Vice-President Riek Machar say their positions in the capital, Juba, have been attacked by government troops.

Col William Gatjiath, Mr Machar’s military spokesman, said President Salva Kiir “isn’t serious” about a peace agreement.

The government has not responded to Col Gatjiath’s comments.

He said “hundreds” of Mr Machar’s troops had died on Sunday, and that troops loyal to Mr Machar were advancing on Juba from different directions.

UN representatives have reported heavy exchanges of gunfire near their headquarters in the suburb of Jebel.

A tweet by the UN’s official mission in South Sudan, posted on Sunday afternoon, said fighting was now “relentless”.

The clashes follow days of fighting in the world’s newest country between supporters of Mr Kiir and Mr Machar. At least 150 people were killed in fighting on Friday, before calm was restored on Saturday.

ZAMBIA

Elections body halts campaigning over violence

Zambia’s electoral commission has suspended campaigning in two areas, including the capital Lusaka, due to escalating political violence before the Aug. 11 elections, it said late on Saturday.

Police in Lusaka on Friday shot dead one opposition supporter in a group that took to the streets, harassing motorists and attacking police after their political party was denied permission to hold a rally, police chief Kakoma Kanganja said in a statement.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) said it was suspending campaigns in Lusaka and Namwala south of the capital for 10 days until July 18 when the situation would be reviewed.

“During the suspension there shall be no public rallies, meetings, processions or door to door campaigns,” it said in a statement.

The ECZ said all vehicles carrying political party campaign messages in the two areas should be parked.

“Campaigns shall be restricted to electronic and print media publicity and hate speech will not be entertained,” it said.

KASHMIR

16 die after key militant killed

Clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir in the wake of the killing of a popular separatist commander have now left 16 people dead and 200 injured.

Burhan Wani, 22, who was well-known due to his prominence on social media, died in a gunfight with the Indian army on Friday.

Thousands attended his funeral on Saturday.

Divided Kashmir has been a flashpoint for India and Pakistan, triggering three wars between the nations.

Both claim the region in its entirety. A number of militant groups in Muslim-majority Indian-administered Kashmir are fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

The funeral of Burhan Wani, a commander of the region’s largest rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen, was held in his hometown of Tral, about 40km (25 miles) south of Srinagar, on Saturday.

The Indian government said no police or security personnel were present at his funeral, to avoid a confrontation with the angry crowd.

A curfew has been imposed, with internet and mobile phone services blocked in some areas.

UNITED STATES

Police shootings: Protests spread with dozens of arrests

Protests against the shootings of two black men by police officers shut down main arteries in a number of U.S. cities on Saturday, leading to numerous arrests, scuffles and injuries in confrontations between police and demonstrators.

Undeterred by heightened concerns about safety at protests after a lone gunman killed five police officers in Dallas Thursday night, organizers went ahead with marches in the biggest metropolis, New York City, and Washington D.C., the nation’s capital, among other cities.

It was the third straight day of widespread protests after the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, by police in Baton Rouge on Tuesday and the death of Philando Castile, 32, on Wednesday night in a St. Paul, Minnesota suburb, cities which both saw heated protests on Saturday.

Protesters, told to disperse, threw rocks, bottles and construction rebar at officers, injuring at least three, St. Paul police said. Police made arrests and used smoke bombs and marking rounds to disperse the crowd.

A march in Baton Rouge saw scuffles between riot police and Black Panther activists. After a short standoff later in the evening, riot police arrested as many as 30 demonstrators.

ZIMBABWE

Govt accuses France, US of protest plot

Zimbabwe on Sunday accused the US and French embassies of backing street protests and a national work boycott which closed businesses and paralysed the public transport system last week.

The strike action was the latest in a series of protests over growing economic hardship blamed on the policies of 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power for 36 years.

“We have gathered from our intelligence that there was involvement of western embassies in all these disturbances that have been taking place,” the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper quoted home affairs minister Ignatius Chombo as saying.

The newspaper reported that US ambassador Harry Thomas had in May met one of the organisers of last week’s work boycott, the cleric Evan Mawarire, and that French ambassador Laurent Delahousse was “believed to have met Mawarire several times”.

Delahousse denied ever meeting Mawarire and dismissed as “ridiculous” claims he backed the protests.

JAPAN

Ruling bloc wins landslide in upper house election

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition won a landslide victory on Sunday in an election for parliament’s upper house, despite concerns about his economic policies and plans to revise the nation’s post-war pacifist constitution for the first time.

Media projections showed Abe’s coalition and like-minded parties had won the two-thirds “super majority” needed to try to revise the constitution’s restraints on the military, a step that could strain ties with China, where memories of Japan’s past militarism run deep.

Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also won a simple majority for the first time since 1989, projections showed. That victory will bolster Abe’s grip over the conservative party that he led back to power in 2012 promising to reboot the economy with hyper-easy monetary policy, fiscal spending and reforms.

A push to ease the constitution’s constraints on the military operating overseas could lead to tension with China, where memories of Japan’s past militarism still arouse anger.

AUSTRALIA

PM Turnbull’s conservatives win tight election

Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has declared victory for his conservative coalition in last week’s closely fought general election.

His comments came after opposition Labour Leader Bill Shorten conceded defeat and congratulated him.

Votes are still being counted, but the Liberal-National coalition is expected to win enough seats to govern.

However, a strong swing against it has left doubts about its agenda and Mr Turnbull’s leadership.

The coalition still remains short of the 76 seats it needs to claim a majority in the lower house, the House of Representatives.

At a news conference, Mr Turnbull said: “We have had a successful election. We have secured the largest number of seats in parliament.”

He admitted that the election was “a tough business”, but welcomed Mr Shorten’s calls for “common ground” in parliament.

CAMBODIA

Leading anti-government critic shot dead

A prominent Cambodian political analyst known for his criticism of the government has been shot dead at a cafe in the capital Phnom Penh, police said.

The killing of Kem Ley on Sunday comes at a time of heightened political tensions between Prime Minister Hun Sen and the opposition, who accuse him of pursuing a fresh crackdown against them.

Police said Kem Ley, a popular commentator and grassroots campaigner, was gunned down as he drank coffee at a shop attached to a petrol station.

A suspect was arrested nearby and confessed to killing the analyst over an unpaid debt, Kirt Chantharith said.

SYRIA

Russian pilots killed as ISIL downs helicopter

Two Russian pilots have been killed in Syria after fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) shot down their helicopter near Palmyra, Russia’s defense ministry has said according to local media.

The two men had been attacking a group of ISIL fighters in the Homs region on Friday, when the military chopper they were in ran out of ammunition, the Interfax news agency said, quoting the defense ministry.

“The turning helicopter was hit by militants’ gunfire from the ground and crashed in the area controlled by the Syrian government army. The crew died,” Interfax said.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack, according to SITE monitoring group.

GERMANY

Riot leaves 123 Berlin police injured

Police in Berlin say 123 officers were injured in clashes with leftist protesters over the redevelopment of a district in the east of the city.

About 3,500 protesters marched through Friedrichshain on Saturday. Some were masked and threw missiles, police said.

The protest was the most violent in the past five years, they said.

Tensions have risen since moves began in June to evict squatters in the area. Friedrichshain has undergone rapid gentrification in recent years.

About 1,800 police were deployed at the protest, which began peacefully but escalated into violence. Eighty-six people were arrested, police said.