Xinhua, New Delhi
Indian authorities have sounded a fresh rain alert in Kerala state till Aug 15, even though the monsoon showers subsided and floods receded in the past 24 hours after three days of devastation that claimed 37 lives and rendered 34,000 homeless.
“Though there have been improvement in rain situation mainly in the worst-hit districts of Idukki and Wayanad, the fresh alert has been sounded after the weather department’s forecast of heavy rains till Aug. 15,” a disaster management official said Sunday.
Steve Bannon weighs in on UK burqa debate
AP, London
Republican strategist Steve Bannon has weighed into Britain’s burqa debate, defending former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s comments that women who wear face-covering veils look like “letter boxes” and “bank robbers.”
The former aide to President Donald Trump tells London’s Sunday Times in an interview that Johnson had “nothing to apologize for” and should not “bow at the altar of political correctness.” He said Johnson’s underlying message was that veils shouldn’t be banned and said populist voters could “separate the signal from the noise.”
Egypt monk detained over murder of bishop
AFP, Cairo
An Egyptian Coptic monk accused of murder has been detained and will remain in custody for four days pending investigations into the suspicious death of a bishop, his lawyer said Saturday.
Bishop Epiphanius, 68, was the head of Saint Macarius monastery in Wadi el-Natrun, northwest of Cairo. His body was found in late July in a corridor of the monastery with injuries to the head, according to the church.
Drone strike kills Taliban commander
Xinhua, Kabul
A Taliban key commander was killed and three others injured in a drone strike that targeted Taliban hideout in the eastern Laghman province, said a statement of 201 Silab Corps in the eastern region released on Sunday.
The air attack, according to the statement, was conducted on a tip off early Sunday, killing the commander and injuring three of his guards. Without identifying the identity of the commander, the statement added that the security forces would continue to target the militants elsewhere in the country.
6 killed in bomb attack in Burkina Faso
Xinhua, Lome
Six people were killed in a bomb attack on an escort vehicle in eastern Burkina Faso’s province of Gourma, authorities said in a statement on Saturday.
According to the statement, the vehicle was heading for a gold mine before it was attacked by a roadside bomb. Five soldiers and one civilian were killed in the blast. There is no immediate claim of responsibility yet for the attack.
Earlier this year, the country’s military headquarters and the French embassy in its capital Ouagadougou were attacked by unidentified assailants, with eight soldiers killed.
