MALI EXTENDS STATE OF EMERGENCY BY 8 MONTHS
BAMAKO: Lawmakers in Mali agreed Saturday to extend a state of emergency across the country by another eight months, officials told Agence France- Presse, as fresh violence flared in the restive northeast. MPs unanimously backed the extension— which has been renewed several times since last year— during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, a parliamentary source said. “I want to reassure that the state of emergency contributes to the stability of the country” and preserves security, interior minister Abdoulaye Idrissa Maiga told lawmakers. The state of emergency, which gives security services greater powers and restricts public gatherings, will last until March 29, 2017, public broadcaster ORTM said. The vote came as renewed violence broke out near Kidal in the northeast, where local sources said former Tuareg rebels were battling members of a pro- government armed group for control of the city.
TURKEY FREES 62 MILITARY ACADEMY STUDENTS
ANKARA: Turkish authorities on Saturday released from jail 62 students from Istanbul’s military academy, more than two weeks after the July 15 attempted coup, local media reported. Many of the students at Kuleli military high school in the city were believed to be teenagers caught up in the failed putsch by a rogue group in the military that tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power. The students walked out of the gates of the prison in Maltepe on the Asian side of Istanbul to an emotional reunion with crying relatives who had been waiting, private Dogan news agency reported. An Istanbul court ordered the release of the students late on Friday among a total of 758 soldiers, adding to another 3,500 former suspects already set free. However, 231 soldiers were remanded in custody in the same hearings, the agency reported.
TENSIONS AS PRO- ERDOGAN ACTIVISTS TO RALLY IN GERMANY
Tens of thousands of supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are planning to rally in the German city of Cologne on Sunday ( Monday in Manila), as tensions over Turkey’s failed coup put authorities on edge. Since the attempted military power grab on the night of July 15, skirmishes have broken out between backers and opponents of Erdogan in Germany, home to Turkey’s biggest diaspora. On Sunday, up to 30,000 people are expected to answer a call to take to the streets issued by a pro- Erdogan group, the Union of European- Turkish Democrats ( UETD), according to police.
CHINA DONATES 31 ARMORED VEHICLES TO BOLIVIA
Ambassador to Bolivia Wu Yuanshan led a ceremony at which the 27 armored combat vehicles and four riot response vehicles were delivered in La Paz. The military cooperation also includes training and maintenance instruction. Under the 2015 deal, China is donating $ 30 million in military aid to the South American nation.
BRAZIL INTERIM LEADER ‘ READY’ TO BE BOOED AT OLYMPICS
BRASÍLIA: Brazil’s interim president Michel Temer said on Saturday he is fine with the likelihood he will be booed when he appears at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games next week. “I am totally ready. As ( Brazilian writer) Nelson Rodrigues used to say, in Maracana ( stadium) even the moment of silence gets booed,” Temer told local media on a visit to Porto Alegre, ahead of South America’s first Olympics, which he will open at the fabled football pitch. Temer, the vice president who has been acting head of state since May, will preside over the opening ceremony and declare the Games open, amid the country’ contentious political situation. Suspended President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor and left- wing ally Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, meanwhile, have said they will boycott the ceremony. Rousseff is currently suspended for an impeachment trial for breaking government budget laws, while Lula, who as President was instrumental in Rio’s winning bid as Olympic host, faces serious corruption allegations.
FLOOD WATER KILLS 26 WEDDING GUESTS IN PAKISTAN
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: At least 26 people, mostly children, were killed on Saturday when a vehicle carrying wedding guests was washed off a mountainous road by floods and flung into a gorge, officials said. The dead included 18 children and six women. Rahimullah Mehsud, a local government official of Khyber tribal district, earlier said rescue workers and residents were facing difficulties as the “area is remote and mountainous.” The accident happened when a pick- up truck carrying the groom’s party of 29 was hit by floods in a remote village in Khyber, one of Pakistan’s seven tribal districts bordering Afghanistan.
2 SISTERS SHOT DEAD IN PAKISTAN ‘ HONOR’ KILLINGS
LAHORE, Pakistan: A man killed his two sisters on the eve of their weddings in Pakistan’s central Punjab province, police said on Saturday, in the latest case of so- called “honor” killings in the country. Kosar and Gulzar Bibi, aged 22 and 28, were shot dead by 35-year- old brother Nasir Hussain on Friday as they prepared to marry men they had chosen themselves, senior police officer Mehar Riaz told Agence France-Presse. Hussain objected to the love matches and had wanted the women to marry someone within the extended family, he added. “The brother shot dead both the sisters yesterday and fled the site,” the officer said, adding that a search was underway. “It is a simple case of killing for honor,” he said.