LIBYA ALLOWS EMERGENCY MIGRANT ‘ EVACUATIONS’ AFTER SLAVERY UPROAR

ABIDJAN: Libya agreed on Wednesday with key European Union and African leaders to allow migrants facing abuse in detention camps to be evacuated within days or weeks, mostly to their home countries, French President Emmanuel Macron said. The decision was taken after Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara called for “all urgent measures” to end slave trading and other migrant abuses in Libya at an EU- Africa summit in Abidjan. The leaders of Libya, France, Germany, Chad, Niger and four other countries “decided on an extreme emergency operation to evacuate from Libya those who want to be,” Macron told reporters after their emergency talks on the summit sidelines. The summit comes just two weeks after US network CNN aired footage of black Africans sold as slaves in Libya, sparking outrage from political leaders and street protests in African and European capitals.

NO CHARGES OVER KILLER QUAKE BUILDING CASE IN NZEALAND

WELLINGTON: New Zealand police on Thursday ruled out laying criminal charges over the catastrophic collapse of a office block that claimed 115 lives in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The CTV building crumpled then burst into flames after the 6.3- magnitude tremor on February 22, 2011, killing those trapped inside, including 65 foreign students mainly from Japan and China. After a four- year investigation, police said they did not have enough evidence to proceed with negligent manslaughter charges against the engineers responsible for the building. “The evidence available is not sufficient to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction in court,” police said in a statement.