page 34
page 34 SRI LANKA Hundreds buried under Sri Lanka mudslides Rescuers in Sri Lanka are searching for scores of people missing after massive landslides following days of rain. The army said that 134 people remained unaccounted for after mudslides hit three villages in central Kegalle district. At least 14 bodies have been recovered so far. […]
page 34
SRI LANKA
Hundreds buried under Sri Lanka mudslides
Rescuers in Sri Lanka are searching for scores of people missing after massive landslides following days of rain.
The army said that 134 people remained unaccounted for after mudslides hit three villages in central Kegalle district.
At least 14 bodies have been recovered so far. Another three bodies were found elsewhere in the district.
Disaster officials say about 150 people have been rescued but more than 60 houses have been buried by mud.
Landslides and flooding caused by three days of torrential rain in Sri Lanka have killed at least 37 people in total, according to official figures. Nearly 350,000 people have been displaced.
The huge landslide happened near the town of Aranayake late on Tuesday afternoon. Rescuers say they are having difficulty getting heavy equipment to the worst-hit places.
Images show a vast stretch of hillside which has sheared off, sending mud, rocks and trees crashing down on the villages of Siripura, Pallebage and Elagipitya.
TURKEY
Turkey moves towards stripping MPs of immunity
Turkey’s parliament has completed a first round of voting on a bill that will strip some MPs of immunity from prosecution – a move members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) say targets them.
The bill, championed by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), would amend the constitution, adding a temporary clause to remove immunity from a total of 138 deputies in the parliament – the number who are currently facing criminal investigations.
Late on Tuesday, the parliament voted to send the bill forward for debate with 348 votes in favour, 155 against and eight abstentions.
On Wednesday, its first article was approved with 350 votes for and 148 against, and its second article approved 357 to 149.
EUROPE
Zika virus may reach Europe this summer
The Zika virus could spread to Europe this summer, although the likelihood of an outbreak is low to moderate, the World Health Organization has said.
Areas most at risk are those where Aedes mosquitoes may spread the virus, like the Black Sea coast of Russia and Georgia and the island of Madeira.
Countries with a moderate risk include France, Spain, Italy and Greece, while the risk in the UK is low.
The UN agency is not issuing any new travel advice at this time.
The WHO is calling on countries to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and to make sure that people – particularly pregnant women – have information on the potential harmful consequences of the disease.
S/ARABIA
2016 Hajj: ‘Iran refuses to sign arrangement deal’
By Abdullateef Salau
The Saudi government has said that the Iranian Hajj Affairs refused to sign the minutes of the agreement to seal the arrangements for the pilgrimage of this year’s Hajj exercise.
The Iran’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister, Ali Jannati had, last week, said Iranians will not make the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia this year after talks failed to break an impasse over issuance of visa.
The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, in a statement made available to Daily Trust, said the authorities in the Kingdom did not prevent Iranians from performing hajj and that the ban was imposed by the Iranian government.
It noted that the Iran’s delegation, at a meeting with Saudi Hajj officials in Riyadh declined to sign the arrangement unless their demands are met.
The demands, according to the statement, includes issuance of visas to intending Iranian pilgrims from inside Iran, reformulate the paragraph on civil aviation with respect to dividing transporting of pilgrims between the Iranian and Saudi air carriers.
The statement explained that the Iranian delegation left Riyadh without signing the agreement with the knowledge that visas can be processed electronically.
The ministry stressed that Saudi government welcomes all pilgrims, visitors from around the world and that they do not prevent any Muslims from coming to the Holy Lands to practice religious rituals. It said it has mobilised resources to ensure a hitch-free hajj exercise.
IRAQ
Forces retake western town from IS
Iraqi government forces have regained control of a remote western town from the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says.
Mr Abadi announced that counter-terrorism troops, backed by tribesmen and US-led coalition air strikes, had raised the Iraqi flag in central Rutba.
Coalition spokesman Col Steve Warren said the small town, on the road to Jordan, had “outsized strategic value”.
Some 200 militants who were based there put up little resistance, he added.
“A lot of the enemy, frankly, ran away when they saw this force coming.”
Col Warren said the fall of Rutba will have an impact on the economies of both Iraq and Jordan, and also deny IS “a critical support zone”.
United States
LGBT groups barred from UN meeting
A group of 51 Muslim countries has blocked LGBT rights organisations from attending a United Nations conference on Aids next month.
Egypt, representing the Organization for Islamic Co-operation, wrote to the General Assembly president to object to the participation of 11 groups.
US, EU, and Canadian officials have written to the president of the 193-member organisation in protest.
Egypt’s representatives did not give a reason for requesting the ban.
US Ambassador Samantha Power said the groups appeared to have been chosen for their involvement in gay or transgender causes.
“Given that transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population, their exclusion from the high-level meeting will only impede global progress in combating the HIV/Aids pandemic,” Mrs Power wrote to general assembly president Mogens Lykketoft.
AFGHANISTAN
Govt signs draft deal with militant Hekmatyar
Afghanistan’s government has signed a draft peace agreement with the Hezb-e-Islami militant group.
The rebel group is led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a veteran of Afghan conflicts in recent decades and one of the country’s most notorious militants.
There are hopes the deal will lead to a peace agreement with the Hezb-e-Islami.
The group has been linked to al-Qaeda and is accused of widespread civil rights abuses. Mr Hekmatyar has been designated a terrorist by the US.
Hezb-e-Islami has played a minor role in the Taliban insurgency in recent years and so the deal is not expected to improve security in the country.
Mohammad Khan, deputy to the Afghan government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, hailed the draft agreement as a positive step.
UAE
Woman ‘fined and deported’ for checking husband’s phone
A woman in the United Arab Emirates has been fined and deported after being found guilty of breaching her husband’s privacy, reports say.
Local media said the woman checked her husband’s mobile phone after becoming suspicious he was having an affair.
The husband complained to the police and his wife was prosecuted under a cybercrime law, Gulf News reported.
The unnamed woman – an Arab expatriate in the UAE – was fined 150,000 dirhams (£28,000; $41,000), the report said.
She admitted to the court that she had accessed his phone without permission and transferred photos to her device, her lawyer told Gulf News.
BRAZIL
Judge sentences Lula’s ex-chief of staff to 23 years
A one-time chief of staff for former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Wednesday for corruption, money-laundering and conspiracy in a vast bribery scandal at the state-run oil company.
Jose Dirceu, a top power broker in the leftist Workers Party that governed Brazil from 2003 until last week, previously had been sentenced separately by the Supreme Court to over 10 years in prison for running a congressional vote-buying operation.
“Not even a conviction by the country’s highest court could inhibit criminal relapse,” federal judge Sergio Moro wrote in his sentencing decision.
FRANCE
Belgian bombings suspect ‘left letter backing attacks’
Investigators have discovered a “last testament” written by a key surviving suspect in the March bombings in Brussels, French media say.
The text, found in a computer left in a rubbish bin, has been attributed to Mohamed Abrini, the “man in the hat” seen with the Brussels airport bombers.
He had told investigators he “would not hurt a fly” after his capture in April.
But the text suggests he approved of November’s Paris attacks and wished to die a martyr himself, a report said.
Mohamed Abrini had attempted to erase the text found on the computer, placing it in the machine’s trash, reported French news channel BFMTV.