NEWS OF THE DAY
Britain politics: Anti-EU U.K. Independence Party says it will promote social unity by banning face-covering veils and barring the opening of new Islamic schools. The right-wing party on Monday unveiled what it calls an “integration agenda” ahead of Britain’s June 8 election. It also calls for the prosecution of parents of girls subjected to female genital mutilation. Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas accused UKIP of “full-throttled Islamophobia.” UKIP played a major role in Britain’s decision last year to leave the EU but is struggling to gain political power. Its only lawmaker in the House of Commons recently quit the party. Polls give Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives a big lead over the main Labor opposition.
Factory safety: Dozens of global clothing companies are not complying with a plan to ensure better safety in Bangladesh garment factories following the deadly collapse of a building four years ago, a rights group said Monday. Only 29 out of 72 recently contacted companies are releasing information about how they source their products in Bangladesh, and “many brands have held out completely,” Human Rights Watch said in a report. That makes it impossible to hold them accountable for ensuring safe conditions at factories they work with, the group said. Bangladesh’s garment industry has invested more than $1 billion in safety improvements since April 24, 2013, when the Rana Plaza garment factory complex collapsed outside Dhaka, killing more than 1,130 workers and injuring 2,500.
Malaria vaccine: Three African countries have been chosen to test the world’s first malaria vaccine, the World Health Organization said Monday. Ghana, Kenya and Malawi will begin piloting the injectable vaccine next year with hundreds of thousands of young children, who have been at highest risk of death. The vaccine, which has partial effectiveness, has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives if used with existing measures, according to the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti. The challenge is whether impoverished countries can deliver the required four doses of the vaccine for each child. Malaria remains one of the world’s most stubborn health challenges, infecting more than 200 million people every year and killing about half a million, most of them children in Africa.
Egypt violence: The Cairo Criminal Court on Monday upheld death sentences against 20 suspected Islamic militants convicted of murder in the deaths of 15 people, including 11 police officers, during an attack on a police station in 2013. The defendants are alleged to have attacked the station in Kerdasa, close to the pyramids at Giza, in the aftermath of the military’s ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. The government later seized on the attack to justify a broad crackdown on Morsi’s supporters and other dissidents.
Earthquake: A magnitude 6.9 quake struck off central Chile’s coast Monday evening, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage and authorities ruled out the possibility of a tsunami. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered in the Pacific about 22 miles west of the port city of Valparaiso. Buildings swayed in Santiago, the capital 70 miles to the east. Chile’s emergency services office said no significant damage to infrastructure was reported from the quake. Chile is earthquake-prone. A devastating 8.8-magnitude quake and the tsunami it unleashed in 2010 killed more than 500 people.