Reuters, Mumbai
Two people have been killed as fresh violence erupted in India’s Darjeeling hills in protests over the killing earlier of a member of an ethnic minority, police said on Sunday.
The region’s Nepali-speaking Gorkha community has since last month held protests demanding a separate state, Gorkhaland, within India to protect their Himalayan culture. They have regularly clashed with the police. Seven civilians have died while dozens of security personnel have been injured.
Mugabe in Singapore for medical check-up
AFP, Harare
Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe is in Singapore for a “routine medical check-up”, state media reported Sunday.
“President Mugabe on Friday left the country for Singapore for a routine medical check-up,” the Sunday Mail newspaper reported.
Mugabe’s medical trips to the Southeast Asia city state have become more frequent in recent years. His previous visit was in May, also said to be for a “routine medical check-up”.
Wildfires rage as California sizzles
AFP, Los Angeles
The first major wildfires after the end of California’s five-year drought raged across the state on Saturday, as it was gripped by a record-breaking heatwave.
Some 3,000 firefighters were battling several blazes with triple-digit temperatures recorded in valleys and inland areas.
A wildfire in the Sierra Nevada foothills north of Sacramento was only two percent contained by early evening and had destroyed 10 homes, scorching 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of forest and sparking evacuations and road closures.
Japan flood death toll rises to 18
AFP, Tokyo
The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Japan’s south has risen to 18, officials said yesterday, as rescue teams continued their search for survivors.
Swathes of Kyushu-the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands-have been left devastated after overflowing rivers and torrential downpours swept away roads, houses and schools this week.
