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page 24 BELGIUM Attacks on Brussels airport, metro kill at least 30 More than 30 people were killed and dozens injured in attacks on Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital on Tuesday. Twin blasts hit Zaventem airport at about 07:00 GMT, with 11 people reported killed. Another explosion struck Maelbeek […]

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BELGIUM

Attacks on Brussels airport, metro kill at least 30

More than 30 people were killed and dozens injured in attacks on Brussels airport and a rush-hour metro train in the Belgian capital on Tuesday.

Twin blasts hit Zaventem airport at about 07:00 GMT, with 11 people reported killed. Another explosion struck Maelbeek metro station near EU headquarters an hour later, leaving about 20 people dead.

Police operations were under way at several points in the city but a lockdown imposed immediately after the attacks was eased and commuters and students headed home as public transport partially reopened.

The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attacks in a statement issued on the IS-linked Amaq agency.

Brussels police have issued a wanted notice for a man seen pushing a luggage trolley through the airport. He was pictured in CCTV footage with two other suspects who are believed to have died in the blasts.

The coordinated assault triggered security alerts across Europe and drew global expressions of support, four days after Brussels police had captured the prime surviving suspect in Islamic State’s attacks on Paris last November.

Belgian security officials made little comment but U.S. officials said that while the attacks may have been triggered by the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the level of organization involved suggested that they had previously been in preparation.

Belgium has raised its terrorism alert to its highest level. Three days of national mourning have been declared.

LIBERIA

Liberia closes border with Guinea after Ebola flare-up

Liberian officials ordered the border with neighbouring Guinea closed Tuesday amid concerns of a new outbreak of the Ebola virus.

Liberia’s information minister Lenn Eugene Nangbe said the closure is a precaution to prevent the spread of the disease, and said the border “will remain closed until the situation in Guinea improves.”

“We are not taking any chances at all,” Nangbe said.

Nangbe said Liberia has also sent medical personnel to crossing points along the entire Guinea border.

The U.N. World Health Organization declared Guinea free of all Ebola transmission in December.

But on March 17 WHO confirmed two new cases of Ebola in the Guinean village of Koropara – a mother and her five-year-old son.

I/COAST

I/Coast arrests 15, seeks leader of al Qaeda beach attack

Ivory Coast authorities have arrested 15 people in connection with an attack earlier this month on a beach resort town that killed 19 people and was claimed by al Qaeda, a state prosecutor said on Tuesday.

They were still seeking the suspected ring-leader named as Kounta Dallah.

Prosecutor Richard Adou said a judge was preparing both domestic and international arrest warrants for other suspects in the attack.

Nineteen people were killed on March 13 when militants burst onto the beach in the town of Grand Bassam, 40 km (25 miles) from the commercial capital Abidjan, gunning down swimmers and sunbathers before storming into several hotels.

Niger’s president wins re-election in run-off

By Abdullateef Salau with agency report

Niger’s electoral commission has announced that President Mahamadou Issoufou has won the Sunday’s presidential run-off, taking 92.5% of the vote. His opponent Hama Amadou got 7.5%.

The opposition, which had called for a boycott of Sunday’s poll, said the results were not credible.

But ECOWAS Election Observation Mission urged all Nigeriens to desist from any act of violence but resort exclusively to legal channels for the resolution of any electoral dispute.

In Congo-Brazzaville, partial election results show that the incumbent President Denis Sassou Nguesso has taken an early lead with 67% of the vote.

Mr Sassou Nguesso has been president of the country for 32 years. He is facing eight challengers and must win more than 50% of the vote to secure another term in office.

Meanwhile, the ECOWAS observers commended Benin’s PM Lionel Zinsou for his display of sportsmanship following the victory of the opposition candidate Patrice Talon in the presidential runoff.

A statement by the head of the observers, Kabine Komara, said Zinsou’s commendable act honours the Beninese people and indeed the whole of West Africa.

CUBA

Obama appeals for political freedoms in speech to Cubans

U.S. President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned appeal for political liberties in Cuba, including freedom of expression and religion, as he spoke directly to the Cuban people on Tuesday in a historic speech broadcast throughout the Communist-ruled island.

Speaking at Havana’s Grand Theater with Cuban President Raul Castro in attendance in what White House officials touted as a crowning moment of Obama’s visit, Obama extended a “hand of friendship.” He declared that he had come to Havana to “bury the last remnant” of the Cold War in the Americas.

But he also pressed for economic and political reforms, speaking in a one-party state where little dissent is tolerated.

His address marked the final day of his trip, the first by a U.S. president to Cuba in 88 years.

His presence in Havana was the culmination of a diplomatic opening that he and Castro announced in December 2014, ending decades of estrangement between Washington and Havana that began soon after Cuba’s 1959 revolution.

UKRAINE

Ukrainian pilot, Savchenko given 22-year sentence

Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko has been sentenced to 22 years in jail after being convicted of charges relating to the deaths of two Russian journalists.

She was accused of directing the artillery fire in eastern Ukraine in which the two journalists died in June 2014.

Prosecutors said she was driven by “political hatred”.

She denied all the charges and her case has become internationally notorious.

Western politicians have been among those calling for her release, echoing her lawyers’ descriptions of the process as a show trial and a farce.

As Savchenko was finally pronounced guilty, following the judge’s two-day reading of the verdict, she disrupted proceedings by singing a Ukrainian national song.

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. commander apologizes for hospital bombing in Afghanistan

The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan apologized on Tuesday for the American bombing of a hospital last year that killed 42 people and wounded 37 more.

General John W. Nicholson met family members of victims and the staff of the now-closed Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Kunduz, which was captured by Taliban insurgents for several days last year, to express his condolences.

“I grieve with you for your loss and suffering; and humbly and respectfully ask for your forgiveness,” Nicholson said.

A U.S. investigation found that the Oct. 3 air strike was a “tragic and avoidable” incident, primarily caused by human error. The U.S. military has disciplined more than a dozen personnel, including officers following the strike.

S/SUDAN

S/Sudan to stop paying hotel bills for Rebel Advance Team

South Sudan’s government said at the end of this week it will stop paying the hotel bills of about 600 rebel advance team members who have been living in Juba since last December to work out the modalities for the implementation of last year’s August peace agreement.

The advance team has also been preparing for the coming to Juba of rebel leader Riek Machar.

South Sudan Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin says the government began paying the bills after the troika (United States, United Kingdom, and Norway) and the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) which had been paying stopped.

INDONESIA

Indonesia’s capital shut down by taxi-driver protest

Thousands of Indonesian taxi drivers have brought parts of the capital, Jakarta, to a standstill in a protest against transport apps.

The drivers say ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Grab have made it impossible for them to earn a living in the heavily congested city.

Some protesters were seen attacking vehicles and threatening others drivers not taking part in the strike.

The drivers are angry that services such as Uber, Grab and Go-Jek are offering rides at lower prices, claiming they are not paying taxes and are operating without official permits.

PAKISTAN

Pakistan illegal alcohol leaves 24 dead from poisoning

At least 24 people in southern Pakistan have died from poisoning after drinking illegally-made alcohol, police say.

A number of others are in hospital after Monday’s incident in Sindh province. At least two of those who died were women.

Most of the victims were from the country’s Hindu minority, although some were Muslims, reports said.

Muslims are forbidden from buying or drinking alcohol in Pakistan – and minorities need a permit to buy liquor.