MORE THAN 1,000 MIGRANTS DROWNED IN MEDITERRANEAN IN 2018: UNITED NATIONS

GENEVA: More than 200 migrants are reported to have drowned off Libya in two days, bringing to at least 1,000 the number to die this year on the main migratory route linking Africa and Europe, the UN has said. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement on Thursday it was “shocked” by the deaths and called for urgent action to reduce the continuing loss of life. “UNHCR is dismayed by the ever-growing number of refugees and migrants losing their lives at sea and is calling for urgent international action to strengthen rescue at sea efforts by all relevant and capable actors, including NGOS and commercial vessels, throughout the Mediterranean.

Xxxtentacion’s girlfriend pregnant with his baby

LOS ANGELES: The girlfriend of US rapper Xxxtentacion, who was shot dead, is pregnant with his child. He was expecting a baby with his girlfriend, who remains unnamed, his mother, Cleopatra Bernard, said in a post on Instagram on Thursday. “He left us a final gift,” Bernard wrote in the caption of a photo of a sonogram. Xxxtentacion, born Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, was shot as he was leaving a motorsports dealership outside Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Police on Wednesday arrested a suspect, Dedrick Devonshay Williams. AGENCIES

UK police arrest man after he claims to have a bomb

LONDON: London’s Charing Cross station, a major commuter hub, was closed for more than an hour, officials said, as they responded to what was later described as a bomb hoax. British Transport Police said they arrested a 38-year-old man under the Mental Health Act after he was found on the tracks claiming to have a bomb. No one was injured in the incident. AP

Death for Indonesian cleric over Isclaimed attack

JAKARTA: A radical Indonesian cleric was sentenced to death Friday for masterminding a 2016 Islamic State terror attack that saw a suicide bomber blow himself up at a Starbucks cafe. Aman Abdurrahman was found guilty of ordering the attack that killed four in Jakarta, as heavily armed police guarded his sentencing at at court in the capital. It was the first attack claimed by the international terror network in Southeast Asia. “(The defendant) has been proven to have committed a criminal act of terrorism,” said judge Akhmad Jaini, who also cited his involvement in other deadly plots.

US couple engaged after airline finds lost ring

FRISCO : A couple was finally engaged after an airline lost their luggage that had the engagement ring inside. Ben Adams and Elizabeth Kahle were returning from Europe when their Icelandbased WOW flight to Dallas-fort Worth International Airport was re-routed to Kennedy airport in New York. AP