Myanmar floods kill 8, disrupt lives of 400,000
Reuters, Yangon:
Floods caused by monsoon rains have killed at least eight people and disrupted the lives of 400,000 across Myanmar, the government said, a year since the worst floods in decades left thousands homeless and inundated vast tracts of farmland.
Weeks of torrential rains have flooded more than 400,000 acres of paddy fields, exacerbating last year’s damage, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said today.
Dubai hands death sentence to child killer
AFP, Dubai
A Dubai court on Tuesday sentenced to death a Jordanian man convicted of raping and killing an eight-year-old boy in a crime that shocked public opinion in the United Arab Emirates, media reported.
The Dubai court of first instance convicted 49-year-old Nidal Eisa Abdullah of kidnapping Obaida Sedqi from his father’s garage on May 20 before raping and killing the boy, the local Gulf News daily said.
He was also ordered to pay 21,000 dirhams ($5,700) to the victim’s parents, the newspaper said.
China launches communications satellite
Reuters, Beijing:
China on Tuesday launched the world’s first quantum satellite, which will help it establish “hack-proof” communications between space and the ground, state media said, the latest advance in an ambitious space programme. The programme is a priority as President Xi Jinping has urged China to establish itself as a space power, and apart from its civilian ambitions, it has tested anti-satellite missiles.
15 Guantanamo detainees sent to UAE in major transfer
AP, Haiti
Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced Monday.
The transfer of 12 Yemeni nationals and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the U.S. prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close..
