Pokémon GO casualty

TOKYO: A Japanese truck driver playing Pokémon Go while driving hit two women, killing one and injuring the other, in that country’s first death related to the Nintendo Co craze. The driver said he had been distracted by the game. He is in custody. Niantic Inc, developers of Pokémon GO, said they would add a pop-up to the screen when it detected an increase in speed, asking for confirmation the user was not driving. – Reuters

Impeachment begins

BRASILIA: Brazil’s senate was set yesterday to open the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff and hear witnesses for and against the leftist leader, expected to be removed from office next week on charges of breaking budget laws.

Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, will appear before the 81 senators on Monday to defend herself, but her opponents are confident they have more than the 54 votes needed to convict her. – Reuters

American college hit

KABUL: About 15 people were killed and 45 injured in a terrorist attack on a private American-run university in Kabul on Wednesday.

Seven students were among those killed, while 36 college staff and students were wounded in the suicide car bombing and ensuing gunfight.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for a string of bombings and other attacks in recent weeks. – Xinhua

Call to probe deaths

GENEVA: An international investigation should be launched over the 3 799 civilian deaths caused by all parties in the Yemen conflict since March last year, says UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

He said 7.6 million people in the poor Arab country were malnourished, half of them “on the brink of starvation”. – dpa

PICTURE: EPA A monk near a damaged temple in Bagan, south-west of Mandalay, Myanmar. A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake has hit central Myanmar, causing three deaths and damage to numerous temples in the ancient city of Bagan and some parts of central Myanmar.Yesterday truckloads of soldiers and squadrons of police were sent to protect and rebuild centuries-old Buddhist pagodas around Bagan, a day after at least 187 of the brick temples were damaged.But the overall damage and impact on local residents appeared limited, government functionaries said.Red Cross officials received reports of three people who died in the tremor from two towns close to the epicentre. Tremors were felt as far away as Thailand, Bangladesh and India.Meanwhile, massive flooding in India’s eastern state of Bihar had affected more than 2.9 million people, officials said yesterday.The state has been hit by floods since June and officials said 127 deaths had been reported during the deluges so far.