Suu Kyi honoured with humanitarian award
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been honoured as the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year by students and faculty at the Harvard Foundation.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate gained international prominence as general secretary of the newly formed National League for Democracy in Myanmar in 1990.
She became one of the world’s best-known political prisoners during her 15 years of house arrest for anti-government protests. She was appointed to the newly created position of state counsellor, similar to prime minister. She received the Peter J Gomes Humanitarian Award. – AP
Typhoon mop-up op
XIAMEN: The city of Xiamen in the east coastal province of Fujian is picking up the pieces after Typhoon Meranti passed through on Thursday, leaving 28 people dead and 15 others missing.
The city government yesterday announced primary schools, kindergartens and private schools would be closed for two or three days, as power supply and the transport network are patchy.
The world’s ost powerful typhoon this year is the strongest to hit Fujian since records began in 1949. It brought heavy rain and gales of up to 280kph when it made landfall. – Xinhua
Knifeman shot dead
ST CLOUD: A knife-wielding suspect dressed in a private security uniform and who made references to Allah while attacking at least eight people during a stabbing incident at a Minnesota shopping mall was shot dead by an off-duty police officer.
St Cloud police chief Blair Anderson said eight people were taken to hospital with injuries following the attack on Saturday morning at the Crossroads Center. One person was admitted.
Anderson said the off-duty police officer shot and killed the unidentified suspect. – AP
Anti-terror initiative
MOSCOW: The French and German interior ministers have vowed to push for the adoption of an EU-wide law on encrypted messaging services as part of measures aimed to tackle terrorism. A joint Justice and Home Affairs Council will be held on October 13-14.
France and Germany unveiled a raft of security initiatives after a meeting last month, proposing to force mobile messaging services into giving up encryption keys to terrorism investigators. – Sputnik
Thai boat tragedy
BANGKOK: At least 12 people have died in Thailand after a boat carrying 150 Thai Muslims capsised in the city of Ayutthaya, officials said yesterday.
The accident took place on the Chao Phraya river in Ayutthaya, a Unesco World Heritage site located about 80km north of Bangkok.
The passengers were returning from a religious event when the boat hit a bank. At least 37 were injured and many are still missing as rescue workers continue to search for survivors. – Reuters NEW YORK: An explosion rocked a crowded Manhattan neighbourhood and injured 29 people, and a suspicious device discovered blocks away was safely removed early yesterday. Mayor Bill de Blasio ruled out any terror connections but called the blast an “intentional act”.
“Tonight, New York City experienced a very bad incident,” De Blasio said at a news conference near the scene in Chelsea on Saturday night. “We have no credible and specific threat at this moment.”