Ethnic detentions
Quake lifts island 25cm
GENEVA: More than 1 million people are estimated to be in detention in “counter-extremism centres” in China’s far-west, according to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
The committee said it was “deeply concerned” about reported detentions of ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, which have “turned the Uighur Autonomous Region into something that resembles a massive internment camp”, the body’s vice chairperson Gay Mcdougall said , adding that most of these people have never been properly charged.
Family ‘killer’ caught
TIRANA: Albanian police say they have arrested a 24-year-old man accused of shooting dead eight relatives for unknown reasons.
A statement said he was arrested yesterday, 90km south of the Albanian capital, Tirana, where a day earlier he allegedly killed his great-uncle, the greatuncle’s wife and two sons, and other members of their extended family.
Police also found the Kalashnikov weapon used in the shootings. The suspect is accused of killing more than two people, a charge that may result in life imprisonment.
10 militants killed
TEHRAN: Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard says it has killed 10 militants in a Kurdish region near the border with Iraq.
The guard’s website said yesterday the 10 belonged to a “terrorist group affiliated with global arrogance”, referring to the US, and that several other militants had been wounded in clashes on Friday.
The fighting occurred near the Kurdish town of Oshnavieh.
It is an area that has seen occasional clashes between Iranian forces and Kurdish separatists, as well as Islamic State-linked militants.
Scores killed in Syria
BEIRUT: Government airstrikes on opposition-held territory in north-west Syria have killed at least 22 people, a monitoring group said on Friday, as the UN children’s agency warned a new battle in the war-torn country could affect the lives of a million children. Government forces unleashed a wave of airstrikes across Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces after days of building up ground forces at the edge of opposition territory, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. UN agencies are warning a campaign to capture Idlib would aggravate an already dire humanitarian situation.
Food security ‘crisis’
NEW YORK: The UN Security Council is expressing grave concern at the “food security crisis” in war-torn South Sudan.
The council said in a statement after closed-door briefings on Friday that ongoing fighting in the country’s five-year civil war “is one of the main direct causes” of food insecurity.
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock mentioned possible famine in parts of South Sudan, according to a council diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.
9 dead in farm attack
ABUJA: At least nine people were killed when suspected herdsmen attacked farmers in north-central Nigeria, police said.
Several others were injured in the attack on the village of Tse Ujoh in Benue State.
The spokesperson of Benue State’s governor said three suspects were arrested, while soldiers had been dispatched to the affected area.
Violence between farmers and herders in the region killed 1 300 civilians in the first half of 2018, according to research.
S&M stabber jailed
LONDON: A woman was killed when she was stabbed through the neck during sadomasochistic sex, a court heard.
Jason Gaskell, 24, was jailed for six years at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday after admitting the gross negligence manslaughter of Laura Huteson, 21, in what a judge described as a “highly unusual” case.
Huteson’s family said the mother of one had been “massively let down” by Gaskell’s six-yearsentence. They said: “Where is the justice in that?”
Sources:ap/dpa/daily Mail/african News Agency/ana TANJUNG: Nasa scientists say the powerful Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 300 people lifted the island it struck by as much as 25cm.
More than 270 000 people are homeless or displaced on the resort island of Lombok after the earthquake, which damaged and destroyed about 68 000 homes.
Nasa used satellite data to produce a map of ground deformation on the island, and said satellite observations could help authorities respond to earthquakes and other natural or man-made disasters.
Nearly a week after the 7.0 magnitude quake, Lombok is still reeling but glimmers of normality are returning and devout villagers are making plans to build temporary structures to replace mosques that were flattened.
In Tanjung, one of the worst affected districts in the hard-hit north of the island, a food market opened yesterday and locals bought vegetables and fish. Some shops also opened for business despite being in damaged buildings.
“I had to borrow money from someone to buy morning glory (plants) to be resold here,” said Natbudi, one of the market vendors. “If I just stay at the camp and don’t come here to sell, then I don’t have money to buy rice.”
Lombok, a popular and less developed tourist destination than neighbouring Bali, was hit by three strong quakes in little more than a week and has endured more than 500 aftershocks.
A July 29 quake killed 16 people. A 5.9 magnitude aftershock on Thursday caused panic, more damage and injured more than 24 people. Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004 a massive 9.1 magnitude earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230 000 people in a dozen countries. – AP/ANA