100 DIE IN SEVERE FLOODING IN NIGERIA, NATIONAL DISASTER DECLARED

LOKOJA : Nigeria has declared a national disaster after severe flooding left about 100 people dead across 10 states, the country’s main relief agency said on Tuesday. Heavy seasonal rains have caused the Niger and Benue rivers to burst their banks, inundating communities, farms and trapping tens of thousands of people in their homes. President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday he had approved the release of three billion naira ($8.3 million) to buy medical and relief materials. Flooding along the rivers is a frequent occurrence during the annual rains, which fall from May to September.

Pussy Riot activist out of danger after ‘poisoning’

BERLIN: A member of Russian dissident punk band Pussy Riot, Pyotr Verzilov, was the victim of suspected poisoning with unknown substances but is now out of danger, his German doctors said on Tuesday. The hospital’s chairman Karl Max Einhaeupl added that his “health condition was improving from day to day and he is no longer in life-threatening danger”.

US to cap refugee intake to a record low of 30,000

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump plans to cap the number of refugees that can be resettled in the US next year at 30,000, his administration announced on Monday, further cutting an already drastically scaled-back program that offers protection to foreigners fleeing violence and persecution.

S Africa’s top court legalises cannabis use

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s top court ruled on Tuesday that private, personal cannabis use was legal in a landmark case that pit law enforcement agencies against marijuana advocates and the judiciary. Deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, delivering the verdict, declared the law banning marijuana use in private by adults “unconstitutional and therefore invalid”.

Mexico: Morgue keeps 157 bodies in trailer

MEXICO CITY: Overcrowding at morgues in Mexico’s state of Jalisco led authorities to store 157 unidentified bodies in a refrigerated truck near the city of Guadalajara. “This is a demonstration of insensitivity on the part of some public servants,” said Roberto Lopez Lara, the Jalisco state interior secretary. AP