GLOBAL SNAPSHOT

Gunman kills officer

SACRAMENTO: A gunman with an assault rifle shot and killed a California sheriff’s deputy and wounded two other officers yesterday at a Sacramento hotel that was later surrounded by officers searching for suspects. Three people, including the man suspected of killing the deputy, were in custody following a chase in a stolen car that led to the hotel.

New species found

MANAUS: Researchers have found 381 new species in the Amazon rainforest, the World Wildlife Fund has announced, all in areas threatened by human activity. The report by the WWF and Brazil’s Mamiraua Institute listed 216 previously unknown plants, 93 fish, 32 amphibians, 19 reptiles, one bird and 20 mammals, two of them fossils.

May all the way

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted she would lead the Conservative Party into the next general election, in interviews broadcast yesterday. Her announcement followed reports she was preparing to stand down when Britain leaves the European Union in 2019.

Cash to fight terror

LAGOS: Britain will give Nigeria aid worth £200 million ($A325 million) over five years to help it cope with the brutal insurgency being waged by Boko Haram jihadists, the foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Boris Johnson visited Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeast Borno State, to meet some of those involved in the fight.

Croc stalks beaches

PHUKET: Popular beaches in the Thai city of Phuket are on alert following sightings of a threemetre-long crocodile on the loose. Paiboon Bunlipatanon, head of the Phuket Office of Fisheries, said the crocodile sighting was the first such report in years in Phuket.