NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Gay rights: Thousands of people marched and danced down the streets of central Warsaw on Saturday to show their support for gay rights, calling for defiance of discrimination and greater acceptance for same-sex unions and marriages. The 17th annual “Equality Parade” took place with a deeply conservative Polish government that opposes marriage rights or civil unions for same-sex couples. Some 40 foreign embassies, including those of France and the United States, expressed their support for the parade. Organizers said 50,000 people took part.
2 Iran fire: A fire at a shopping center in southern Fars province early Saturday injured 37 people, according to Iranian state TV. The fire in the city of Shiraz was preceded by an explosion, IRIB reported. Reza Alimanesh, head of the provincial emergency organization, said 15 of the injured were hospitalized. “The cause of the blast and fire at the hypermarket was negligence and inattention to safety standards,” Shiraz Fire Department chief Mohammad Farrokhzad told State-run Press TV. During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observers fast from dawn till dusk, it is not unusual for shopping centers to be busy with customers late into the evening.
3 Cholera cases: A cholera outbreak is spreading quickly in warravaged Yemen, with an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 new cases every day, the U.N. children’s agency said Saturday. Some 70,000 cases of cholera have been reported in the past month, said Geert Cappelaere, the Middle East director of UNICEF. Fighting has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million others and devastated the country’s health sector and economy. Cappelaere said many patients can’t afford to travel to free clinics.
4 Jordan attack: Three gunmen on motorcycles mounted an attack from Syrian soil on Jordanian border positions Saturday and were killed in a clash with troops, a news website linked to Jordan’s military reported. The Hala Akhbar site said a Jordanian soldier sustained a hand injury. The attackers started Saturday near Rukban, a border camp that houses tens of thousands of displaced Syrians. Jordan has alleged that Rukban houses Islamic militants along with displaced Syrians. A car bomb attack from Rukban a year ago killed seven Jordanian troops and led to a closure of the border.
5 Turkey crackdown: The Anadolu news agency reported Saturday that the chief adviser to the prime minister has been detained for alleged links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed by the government for last summer’s coup attempt. Birol Erdem, who advises Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, was taken into custody in Ankara on Saturday along with his wife. They are being investigated for their suspected membership in Gulen’s movement, which Turkey considers a terror group. Turkey launched a massive crackdown after the July 15 coup to purge state institutions of suspected Gulen sympathizers. More than 50,000 people have been arrested and 100,000 civil servants dismissed.
6 Territorial dispute: Officials from Sudan and Egypt held discussions Saturday in Cairo after months of tension between the neighbors, but appeared to make little headway to patch up their differences, primarily over a border region held by Cairo and claimed by Khartoum. At the center of tensions is sovereignty over the Halayeb Triangle on the Red Sea, an issue that dates back to colonial times. Egypt refuses to submit the dispute to international arbitration, a Sudanese request.