World news in brief
Panic buying returns as Melbourne braces for lockdown
Australian supermarkets have imposed limits on purchases of essential items after a return to lockdown in Melbourne triggered a fresh burst of panic buying. Shoppers tweeted pictures of empty shelves and queues in stores ahead of a new stay-at-home order coming into force yesterday night. Supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles have both imposed buying limits on items such as pasta, vegetables, milk and hand sanitiser.
Harvard and MIT sue Trump administration
Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have sued the Trump administration over a measure that bans foreign students from staying in the country if their classes are held exclusively online next fall. The federal lawsuit, filed yesterday in Boston, seeks to block the Department of Homeland Security from stripping international students of their student visas and making them go back to their native countries. The Ivy League schools are requesting a 14-day restraining order and permanent injunction against the measure announced on Monday by DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
180 bodies found in Burkina Faso mass graves
At least 180 bodies were found in mass graves in northern Burkina Faso - with evidence suggesting the government army was involved in large-scale executions turning the area into a “killing field”, Human Rights Watch said. The bodies were dumped in groups of up to 20 under bridges, in fields and in vacant spaces, the rights group said in a new report. The killings took place between November last year and June and the majority were found within three miles of the government-controlled town of Djibo. This is the latest in a string of growing accusations of extrajudicial killings by Burkina Faso‘s military, which is struggling to stem jihadist violence across the country, internally displacing almost one million people. AP
Ivory Coast PM dies at 61
Amadou Gon Coulibaly, Ivory Coast’s prime minister and the ruling party’s candidate for an October presidential election, died yesterday, President Alassane Ouattara said. The 61-year-old Coulibaly, who had heart surgery in 2012, became unwell during a weekly cabinet meeting and was evacuated to a hospital where he passed away, Ouattara said. Gon Coulibaly had returned to Ivory Coast last Thursday after two months in France. Gon Coulibaly’s death is likely to set off a scramble within the ruling RHDP party to replace him as its candidate in an election that is considered a key test of stability for the world’s top cocoa producer. Ouattara’s first win in 2010 over incumbent Laurent Gbagbo sparked a brief civil war in which about 3,000 people died, and political tensions have been rising ahead of October’s poll. Ouattara designated Gon Coulibaly as the RHDP candidate in March. Reuters