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page 35 ZIMBABWE Mugabe empties food-starved female prisons under amnesty Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has granted amnesty to all female prisoners except those on death row or serving life sentences, as prisons struggle to feed inmates due to lack of funding from the government. Five prisoners died in March 2015 after being shot by police […]

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ZIMBABWE

Mugabe empties food-starved female prisons under amnesty

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has granted amnesty to all female prisoners except those on death row or serving life sentences, as prisons struggle to feed inmates due to lack of funding from the government.

Five prisoners died in March 2015 after being shot by police in a protest over food shortages, which turned violent as some of them attempted to break out of jail.

Mugabe announced the pardon through a government notice, without stating a reason for the move, and the release of prisoners started on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services spokeswoman Priscilla Mthembo said on Thursday there were 580 female inmates across the country’s 46 prisons, and those eligible would be set free. At the country’s top security jail in Harare, two female prisoners serving life sentences remained after the amnesty, while vetting was ongoing at other prisons.

FRANCE

Labour dispute: Wave of strike action nationwide

Industrial action over labour law reforms is gripping France nationwide, with oil refineries, nuclear power stations and transport hubs affected.

Motorways and bridges were blocked and flights delayed while clashes erupted with police in several cities.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls insists the reforms will not be withdrawn but has suggested they could be “modified”.

The action, building over three months, comes two weeks before France hosts the Euro 2016 football championships.

A state of emergency imposed after November’s deadly attack by militants from the co-called Islamic State group in Paris remains in place.

The CGT union is leading the action, supported by six other unions including Force Ouvriere and Unef, whereas the more moderate CFDT union backs the labour reforms.

UNITED STATES

Obama: World leaders ‘rattled’ by Trump

US President Barack Obama has said that international leaders “have good reason to be rattled” by pronouncements made by the Republican White House contender, Donald Trump.

Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan, Mr Obama said Mr Trump had shown a cavalier and ignorant attitude towards world affairs.

Mr Obama said foreign leaders were surprised by his nomination.

There has so far been no response from the billionaire businessman.

“They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements, but they’re rattled by him – and for good reason, because a lot of the proposals that he’s made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude,” the president said.

SYRIA

UN seeks aid access as civilians risk starvation

The United Nations has called for greater humanitarian access in Syria amid fears that many civilians risk starvation in besieged areas of the war-torn country.

Speaking in Geneva on Thursday, UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said there “are plenty of civilians at the moment in danger of starvation” in Syria, where more than 400,000 are trapped in areas besieged by the government or armed groups across the country.

The UN also estimates that upwards of four million people are trapped in “hard-to-reach” areas.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and special advisor to the UN envoy, said plans to reach a million Syrians with humanitarian assistance have fallen short.

“Of the one million people that we have planned and have tried to reach by land in May, we’ve only so far reached 160,000,” he said.

ITALY

Dozens feared dead in shipwreck

Up to 30 migrants are feared dead after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast while some 77 were rescued by EU naval units from the sea.

Ships from an EU task force and Italy’s coast guard raced to the scene 35 nautical miles (65km) off the coast as survivors clung to the hull or swam.

The alert had been raised by a Luxembourg reconnaissance plane which saw the capsized boat.

The Italian navy rescued 562 migrants from a capsized boat on Wednesday.

Some 6,000 migrants trying to reach Europe have been rescued from flimsy craft in the Mediterranean this week alone.

Aid agencies say the crossing between Libya and Italy is the main route for migrants since an EU deal with Turkey curbed the number sailing across the Aegean to Greece.

AFGHANISTAN

Gov’t urges Taliban to join peace talks

An Afghan spokesman has called on the new Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada to join peace talks or face dire consequences, only hours after the armed group appointed him.

The Taliban named Haibatullah Akhunzada on Wednesday after confirming the death of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the group’s former leader, in a US drone strike in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

The US and Afghan administrations also confirmed his death.

“We invite Mula #Haibatullah to peace. Political settlement is the only option for #Taliban or new leadership will face the fate of #Mansoor,” Javid Faisal, spokesperson for Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, said on Twitter.

The Taliban has repeatedly refused to take part in peace talks sponsored by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group, which comprises representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US.

INDONESIA

Death penalty, castration for child rapists

Indonesia’s introduction of tougher punishments for child sex offenders, including the death penalty and chemical castration, has won public applause – but activists are warning that the measures will not serve as a deterrent.

President Joko Widodo signed a decree on Wednesday introducing the harsher penalties, which also include fitting monitoring devices to offenders after their release from jail, in response to public anger at the fatal gang-rape of a schoolgirl.

The 14-year-old was snatched by a group of drunken men and boys on western Sumatra island in April and was found days later in woods, tied up and naked.

UGANDA

Al-Shabab World Cup bomb mastermind found guilty

The mastermind of the 2010 bomb attacks in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, which killed 74 people, has been found guilty of terrorism.

Ugandan Isa Ahmed Luyima was one of seven to be convicted on this charge.

The Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabab said it was behind the bombings, which happened during a screening of the World Cup final.

This is thought to be the first major conviction of al-Shabab suspects outside Somalia.

Thirteen men were standing trial on charges relating to the attack on two sites, a rugby club and an Ethiopian restaurant.

Six of the men were acquitted of terror and murder charges, but one of those was convicted of a lesser charge of accessory after the fact.

CONGO

Stone throwers ‘kill policewoman’

Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have fired tear gas at stone-throwing demonstrators as tensions rise over the timing of the next election.

Clashes erupted in the capital, Kinshasa, and the eastern city of Goma, where a policewoman and a protester were killed, the UN says.

But local officials have denied the police death.

President Joseph Kabila’s opponents are concerned that he will not step down in December, the end of his second term.

A presidential election is due in November, but this could be delayed.

Earlier this month the Constitutional Court ruled that the president could stay in power if no election took place.

BOLIVIA

Police clash with disabled protesters

Police in Bolivia have clashed with disabled protesters who tried to approach the presidential palace to demand an increase in state benefits.

The Bolivian government said a group of protesters attacked police officers with knives and noxious gases.

Police pushed them back with high-pressure water cannons.

Disabled activists have been camping in central La Paz for a month, calling for a five-fold increase in disability benefits.

They are asking for 500 bolivianos a month ($73; £50), but the government of leftist President Evo Morales has rejected their demands.