Martial arts star wins

ULAANBAATAR: Populist former martial arts star and businessman Khaltmaa Battulga has won Mongolia’s presidential runoff election, according to voter data from the General Election Commission released yesterday.

The poll was seen as a referendum on the government’s economic recovery plans and the role of southern neighbour China in the landlocked but resource-rich country known as the birthplace of Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. – Reuters

8 killed in collapse

ROME: Eight people were found dead yesterday under the rubble of a collapsed building near the southern Italian town of Naples, after rescue workers searched for bodies through the night, a fire brigade spokesperson said.

“We recovered all the bodies… We found them all dead,” national fire brigade spokesperson Luca Cari said, adding that they included two brothers, aged 14 and 8.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the collapse. – Reuters

IS suspect arrested

ROME: Italian police said yesterday they had arrested a Chechen man suspected of being a militant of Islamic State and involvement in attacks in the Chechen capital Grozny in 2014.

The 38-year-old man, whose name was not made public, is accused of crimes of international terrorism. He is believed to be linked with clashes in 2014 in which media offices and a school were burnt and which left at least 20 dead, police said. – Reuters

Ministry blaze rescue

SAN SALVADOR: A fire broke out in El Salvador’s Finance Ministry on Friday, killing at least one person, injuring 22 and prompting some inside to jump from the building before the blaze was extinguished, officials said.

A 57-year-old woman died, emergency services chief Jorge Melendez said, adding that the cause of the fire was not known.

About 50 people were evacuated from the building, some by helicopter. – Reuters

Fernandez ahead

BUENOS AIRES: Former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez enjoys a wide lead in her October Senate election bid against an opponent backed by the country’s current leader and Fernandez’s long-time political nemesis, Mauricio Macri, a poll published on Friday showed.

Fernandez, popular with the poor for generous welfare spending during her eight years in power, got 35.6% voter intention in Buenos Aires province. – Reuters

Deluge batters Japan

ASAKURA: Japanese rescue crews took advantage of a break in the weather yesterday to search for survivors of torrential rain, floods and landslides, as the death toll from several days of freak weather rose to 16, the NHK state broadcaster reported. Asakura was pounded by more than 600mm of rain in the 24 hours, according to Japan’s weather agency. Some places have seen more rain in a matter of hours than they get in the whole month of July. – Reuters