Schoolteachers arrested for ‘al-Shabab meetings’
Somali authorities have arrested seven head teachers who they accuse of meeting al-Shabab militants.
They are said to have discussed changing the curriculum at private schools to favour the Islamist group’s ideology.
Each of the principals is responsible for around 1,000 students, ranging in age from seven to 15.
Mahad Hassan Osman, the information minister for the central Hir-Shabelle region, said that the teachers had been intercepted and arrested near the town of Jowhar.
“We arrested them 15km outside the town.”
The minister has said the teachers will be taken to court once an investigation has taken place. Eleven migrant workers died from asphyxiation when fire swept through a windowless house they shared in Saudi Arabia, officials said.
Six others were injured in the fire in the south-western city of Najran, the civil defence directorate said.
The victims all hailed from Bangladesh and India, it added.
The region’s governor has ordered an investigation and expressed concern over workers’ accommodation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
An estimated nine million foreigners work in Saudi Arabia, many of them from South Asia.
“Firefighters put out a blaze in an old house where there is no ventilation (windows) resulting in the death of 11 residents and injuring six others due to smoke inhalation,” the civil defence directorate said in a tweet.
Troops depart for first overseas military base in Djibouti
Ships carrying Chinese troops are heading to Djibouti to set up Beijing’s first overseas military base, reports state media.
China says the support base will be used for peacekeeping and humanitarian aid in Africa and West Asia.
It will also be used for military co-operation, naval exercises and rescue missions, Xinhua said.
China has ramped up investment in Africa, as well as rapidly modernised its military in recent years.
The Xinhua report said the ships departed from the port city of Zhanjiang in China’s southern Guangdong province on Tuesday.
It did not specify the number of troops or ships that departed for Djibouti, nor when the base would start operations.