NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Iran politics: Lawmakers on Sunday approved 16 of 17 Cabinet members nominated by recently reelected President Hassan Rouhani, including the first defense minister unaffiliated with the elite, hard-line Revolutionary Guard in 25 years. The group also includes Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who negotiated the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Rouhani told members of parliament that the foreign minister’s primary goals should be to stand by the nuclear deal and attract foreign investment and technology. U.S. President Trump has repeatedly criticized the deal but has yet to pull out of it.
_2 Mudslide victims: Churches across Sierra Leone held special services Sunday in memory of the 500 people who were killed in mudslides and flooding last week. More than 600 people remain missing, and rescue officials have warned that the chances of finding survivors are decreasing each day. Large-scale-burials have taken place amid rainy weather that threatens further mudslides. The government of the impoverished West African nation has warned residents to evacuate a mountainside where a large crack has opened.
_3 Lebanon offensive: Lebanon suffered its first casualties Sunday from a major operation to drive Islamic State group militants from an area along the Syrian border when a roadside bomb killed three soldiers. The deaths came a day after the U.S.backed army began its biggest military operation yet against the Islamic State, which gained a foothold along the tiny Mediterranean country’s border with Syria in 2014.
_4 Germany immigration: A key ally of Angela Merkel appeared to back away from his long-standing call for a cap on refugees — a major point of friction with the German chancellor. Horst Seehofer, who leads the Christian Social Union, had called for an upper limit on the number of refugees Germany takes after the huge influx in 2015. Seehofer’s party traditionally forms a conservative bloc with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, and the two are projected to take about 39 percent of the vote in the Sept. 24 election. Seehofer told broadcaster ARD that “we now have significantly less immigration than at the time when I made those comments.” Seehofer said he would aim to ensure the measures already taken to reduce refugee arrivals are protected by a future government.
_5 India derailment: Rescuers using cutting torches and cranes worked through the night to pull apart 14 coaches of a crowded train that went off the tracks in northern India, killing 23 people and injuring more than 80 others, officials said Sunday. Two of the coaches piled on top of each other, while 12 others toppled off the tracks, said Arvind Kumar, a top official in Uttar Pradesh state, where the train derailed Saturday. Police and volunteers helped pull passengers out of the upturned coaches of the Kalinga-Utkal Express. Federal Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has ordered an investigation.
_6 Flag spat: Malaysia apologized to Indonesia on Sunday for what it called an unintentional mistake in printing the Indonesian flag upside down in a souvenir guidebook for the Southeast Asian Games. The error made the redand-white Indonesian flag resemble Poland’s and caused anger in Indonesia, where #shameonyoumalaysia became the most popular hashtag on Twitter. Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin met his Indonesian counterpart Imam Nahrawi to personally apologize. The two shook hands at a news conference.
Chronicle News Services