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page 42 S/ARABIA Gulf states declare Lebanon’s Hezbollah ‘terrorist’ group Gulf monarchies on Wednesday declared Lebanon’s Hezbollah a “terrorist” group, escalating tensions with the Shiite militant organisation that is fighting in support of Syria’s regime. The designation is the latest step taken by Gulf states against Hezbollah as ties between its main backer Iran and […]

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S/ARABIA

Gulf states declare Lebanon’s Hezbollah ‘terrorist’ group

Gulf monarchies on Wednesday declared Lebanon’s Hezbollah a “terrorist” group, escalating tensions with the Shiite militant organisation that is fighting in support of Syria’s regime.

The designation is the latest step taken by Gulf states against Hezbollah as ties between its main backer Iran and regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia deteriorate.

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council “decided to consider the militias (of Hezbollah) a terrorist organisation”, GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani said in a statement.

He said the states targeted Hezbollah because of “hostile actions of the militia who recruit the young people (of the Gulf)”.

Zayani cited “their terrorist acts and incitement in Syria, Yemen and in Iraq”, which he said were threatening Arab security.

Saudi Arabia last month halted a $3 billion programme for military supplies to Lebanon in protest against Hezbollah, which has lawmakers in Beirut’s parliament.

N/KOREA

UN imposes tough North Korea sanctions

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution significantly expanding international sanctions against North Korea.

The new measures amount to some of the toughest against North Korea in two decades. The vote is in response to North Korea’s nuclear test last month.

The sanctions will result in all cargo going to and from the country being inspected, while new individuals and organisations have been blacklisted.

The United States and North Korea’s long-standing ally China spent seven weeks discussing the new sanctions.

In addition to the mandatory cargo inspections the sanctions also include a ban on all sales or transfers of small arms and light weapons to North Korea, and expulsion of diplomats from the North who engage in “illicit activities”

North Korea earlier said it would no longer take part in UN Human Rights Council sessions examining its rights record.

MALAYSIA

Mozambique plane debris believed to be from Boeing 777

Debris believed to be part of a Boeing (BA.N) 777 jet has been found off Mozambique and is being taken to Australia to be examined by investigators involved in the search for the missing Flight MH370, Malaysia’s transport minister said.

Liow Tiong Lai said there is a “high possibility” that the piece of debris belonged to a 777 jet but added he could not conclude yet that it was from the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner.

“The debris will be taken to Australia for further examination,” he told Reuters.

Earlier on Wednesday NBC News said the piece could be a horizontal stabilizer from a Boeing 777, citing U.S., Malaysian and Australian investigators who looked at photos of the debris.

The piece of debris was discovered off the east African coast between Mozambique and Madagascar.

UNITED STATES

Super Tuesday: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton win big

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton have moved closer to winning their parties’ nominations with a series of victories in the Super Tuesday elections.

Clinton and Trump each won at least seven of 11 state races as they distanced themselves from party rivals and looked ahead to the November 8 presidential election.

Ted Cruz, a Republican senator, won his home state of Texas, Alaska and Oklahoma as he sought to emerge as Trump’s main rival.

Clinton’s only opponent, Bernie Sanders, also won Oklahoma, as well as his home state of Vermont, Colorado and Minnesota.

Cruz desperately needed the Texas win in order to stay in the race, and was likely to keep campaigning as the only Republican who has been able to defeat Trump in any primary contest.

Still, Trump’s wins in the South were a blow to Cruz, who once saw the region as his opportunity to stake a claim to the nomination.

Instead, he has watched Trump, a brash New York real estate mogul, display surprising strength with the region’s evangelical Christians and social conservatives.

CAR

Hunger soars in CAR as 2.5 million face food shortages

Half the population in Central African Republic are going hungry every day, double the number a year ago, U.N. officials said as they called for help to prevent the “dire” food situation deteriorating further.

Three years of bloodshed and the displacement of nearly one million people from their homes has disrupted harvests and sent food prices soaring in the volatile country.

“It is serious. The situation is worse than last year,” World Food Program (WFP) country director Bienvenu Djossa said in a phone interview from Bangui.

Djossa said families are so short of food that children receiving school meals under the WFP’s emergency program put part of their serving in a plastic bag to take home.

Nearly 2.5 million people now face hunger with many surviving on cheap, low-nutrient food, WFP said. Families have been forced to sell their possessions, pull their children out of school and even resort to begging.

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe soldiers charged over bomb plot

Prosecutors in Zimbabwe have reinstated charges against two soldiers accused of planning to petrol-bomb a dairy farm owned by President Robert Mugabe’s family.

The move annuls the decision of chief prosecutor Johannes Tomana to drop the charges against the 29-year-old and 37-year-old soldiers, it reports.

The legal team of the soldiers is pushing for the case to be thrown out, saying it was inconceivable that Mr Tomana would “turn around and authorise their prosecution”.

State lawyers said Mr Tomana’s deputy had taken the decision to recharge them after complying with all the “statutory requirements.”

Mr Tomana is out on bail after his decision led to him being charged with obstructing the course of justice. He has denied the charge.

UGANDA

Uganda election: opposition contests poll results, journalists arrested

Uganda is headed for a Supreme Court battle over the results of the February 18 presidential poll as tensions there continue to climb.

Amama Mbabazi’s lawyers managed to submit their petition to the Supreme Court Tuesday, just minutes before the deadline. The petition lays out 28 alleged irregularities including bribery, late arrival of voting materials, inconsistencies with voting cards and election papers the opposition says were pre-checked and stuffed into boxes.

Mbabazi finished a distant third in the February 18 poll. Results showed President Yoweri Museveni winning a fifth term in office with 60 percent of the vote.

Second place finisher Kizza Besigye was not able to get a petition to the courts by the deadline. His camp says repeated arrests and detention by security forces made it impossible for Besigye to file a challenge.

Meanwhile, journalists in Uganda are coming under increasing pressure. Twice this week, local television stations have done live broadcasts of police loading journalists into cars and taking them away.

INDONESIA

Powerful quake in western in Indonesia sparks panic

A powerful and shallow earthquake struck Wednesday off Indonesia’s Sumatra island, sending panicked residents rushing from their homes in a region hit hard by quakes and tsunamis in the past.

Local authorities initially issued a tsunami warning but lifted it several hours later, and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The 7.8 magnitude undersea quake struck at a depth of 24 kilometres (15 miles) at about 6:50 pm (1250 GMT), the US Geological Survey said.

The epicentre was several hundred kilometres from the Mentawai Islands, a small chain southwest of the country’s main western island of Sumatra.

RUSSIA

Moscow nanny admits beheading child

A nanny in Russia accused of murdering and then decapitating a little girl in her care has said that “Allah ordered” her to carry out the act.

Gulchekhra Bobokulova, a 38-year-old mother of three, spoke to reporters on her way into a Moscow court.

Bobokulova, a Muslim and a citizen of Uzbekistan, also replied “yes” when asked if she accepted her guilt. Russian officials have said Bobokulova was suffering from mental health problems.

CCTV appeared to show her, dressed in a hijab, walking near a metro station with a head in her hands. Russian media reported that she pulled the head out of a bag and began screaming that she would blow herself up after a police officer asked to see her identity documents.

MALAWI

Malawi mob burns 7 over human bones

Police in southern Malawi say a mob has burned to death seven men who allegedly possessed human bones to be used for witchcraft.

The head of the Nsanje district police force, Kirby Kaunga, told reporters Wednesday that the mob rounded up the victims Tuesday and then set them on fire.

Police are investigating but have not made any arrests. A police spokesman said the bodies were so badly burned that identification has been difficult.

Trade in human remains is outlawed in Malawi, but a lucrative black market exists for the body parts of albinos, which are used in withcraft rituals in several African countries.