AFP, Sydney
Victims of child sex abuse will be able to sue institutions such as churches under proposed new laws in Australia’s most populous state, authorities said Sunday.. The proposed legislation came after a five-year royal commission-which released its final report late last year-detailed thousands of harrowing abuse cases involving churches, orphanages, sporting clubs, youth groups and schools and going back decades.
Frenchman commits suicide
AFP, Riyadh
A Frenchman has committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca, Saudi and French officials said Saturday.. “A foreigner threw himself from the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca” to the courtyard below, “resulting in his instant death”, Saudi police told the official SPA news agency. A French foreign ministry official told AFP in Paris that the dead man was French but gave no further details.
Colorado wildfire grows 40pc as more homes evacuated
Reuters, Colorado
Colorado officials ordered another 300 homes in the southwestern part of the state evacuated on Friday as a massive wildfire grew 40 percent larger than it had been the day before after jumping a highway that had previously been a barrier on its east side.Residents of some 1,500 homes have now been ordered to evacuate the area threatened by fire, La Plata County officials said in a statement. So far no homes have been burned and no injuries reported, said Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County, Colorado.
Indian soldiers kill 6 militants in Kashmir
AP, Srinagar
A group of militants sneaked into the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed territory on Sunday, sparking a gunbattle that left at least six suspected rebels dead, the Indian military said. The fighting began early Sunday when soldiers intercepted a group of insurgents along the highly militarized de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, said Col. Rajesh Kalia..
