AP, Colombo
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister resigned on Thursday after being accused of possessing a luxury apartment paid for by a businessman investigated for shady treasury bond transactions.
Ravi Karunanayake, who was the finance minister at the time the deals took place, told Parliament Thursday that he is resigning from the Cabinet to “set an example” to others and protect the government.
Hundreds flee as fire rages in southern France
AFP, Paris
A forest fire raged in parched southern France on Thursday, forcing 400 campers and residents to flee, firefighters said.
The blaze has been contained after ravaging 500 hectares (1,250 acres) of pine forest and bush 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of Montpellier, the fire service said.
Some 200 firefighters were still battling the blaze, with strong winds expected during the day.
London double-decker bus crashes into
building
Reuters, London
A double-decker bus crashed into a building in south London, British police said on Thursday, injuring a number of people and trapping two passengers inside.
The Metropolitan Police said they had been called to reports of a collision on Lavender Hill, near London’s busy Clapham Junction train station.
“The driver has been taken to a south London hospital. A number of passengers were treated by LAS (London Ambulance Service) at the scene,” police said in a statement.
Israel moves ahead on underground wall around Gaza
AFP, Jerusalem
Israel is pushing ahead with a project to build a giant underground wall around the Gaza Strip to block tunnels that could be used for attacks, the army said on Thursday.
The project comes after the government faced heavy criticism over Hamas’s use of tunnels in the 2014 Gaza war, with a state inquiry earlier this year accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and army top brass of having been unprepared for the threat.
