Republicans insist

WASHINGTON: Several Republican presidential candidates insist Syrian refugees pose a potential danger to America and should be barred from the US, despite growing criticism from within and outside their party.

Debate over the Obama administration’s plan to accept 10 000 Syrian refugees over the next year has intensified since the Paris attacks. – Reuters

Jade mine collapses

YANGON: Nearly 100 bodies have been pulled from a landslide near a jade mine in Myanmar’s northern Kachin state and an estimated 100 people are still missing.

The landslide happened in the early hours of Saturday in Hpakant, an area that produces some of the world’s highest-quality jade. – Reuters

Reporter sentenced

DUBAI: A court in Iran had sentenced Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian to an unspecified prison term, the state news agency Irna said yesterday.

Rezaian, the paper’s Tehran bureau chief, who has both US and Iranian citizenship, was arrested earlier this year on espionage charges. – Reuters

Egypt votes again

CAIRO: Egyptians voted yesterday in the second phase of elections which have so far attracted just a quarter of the electorate in a process critics say has been undermined by repression.

The elections have been hailed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a milestone on the army’s road to democracy. – Reuters

In-flight bomb alert

TORONTO: A Turkish Airlines flight bound for Istanbul from New York was diverted to Halifax, Canada, after a bomb threat yesterday.

The aircraft landed safely and police were searching it using dogs trained in explosives, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. – Reuters

Delhi Car-Free Day

NEW DELHI: The city of New Delhiwould observe Car-Free Day on January 22, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced yesterday.

“I will cycle to my office on January 22,” he said.

Car-Free Day is an initiative to make the city pollution and traffic congestion free. – Xinhua