Reuters, Dubai
Iranian forces have launched war games in an area near the border with Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Iran’s state media reported on Sunday, a day before an independence referendum is to be held in the region.
State broadcaster IRIB said the exercises, part of annual events held in Iran to mark the beginning of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, are centered in the Oshnavieh border region.
The war games will include artillery, armored and airborne units, IRIB reported.
Thousands rally across Catalonia for independence
AP, Spain
Thousands of Catalan separatists are rallying in public squares in Barcelona and other towns in support of a disputed referendum on independence of the northeastern region from Spain.
Many are carrying pro-independence flags and signs calling for the Oct. 1 vote that the Spanish government calls illegal and has pledged to stop.
Death toll from Mexico quake climbs to 307
Xinhua, Mexico City
The death toll from a 7.1-magnitude earthquake earlier this week has climbed to 307, the Mexican government announced Saturday.
National Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente said 169 deaths were
registered in the capital, adding on Twitter that 73 people were killed in the state of Morelos, 45 in Puebla, 13 in Mexico State, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca in Tuesday’s earthquake.
Thousands flee rumbling Bali volcano
AFP, Karangasem
More than 34,000 people have fled from a rumbling volcano on the resort island of Bali as the magnitude of tremors grows, prompting fears it could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years, an official said Sunday. Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said the number of people fleeing their homes surrounding the volcano had tripled since Friday amid growing alarm that Mount Agung could erupt at any moment.
“The evacuation process is ongoing and we expect the number of evacuees to continue to rise,” the agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.
