Reuters, Male
The Maldives declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, as the Indian Ocean island nation’s political upheaval intensified following a suspected assassination attempt on the president.
Citing a threat to national security, the foreign ministry said on its official Twitter feed that the state of emergency would remain in force for 30 days.
S Africa in midst of ‘epic drought’
Agencies, Pretoria
South Africa is facing its worst drought since 1982, with more than 2.7 million households facing water shortages across the country, the government has said.
Lennox Mabaso, spokesperson for the Department of local government in KwaZulu-Natal, told Al Jazeera that the drought, concentrated in provinces of Free State and KwaZulu-Natal, was beginning to impact on livelihoods and draining the economy.
Trudeau to be sworn in as Canada’s new PM
AP, Toronto
Justin Trudeau will be sworn on Wednesday as prime minister – the position long held by his late father – as Canada begins a new era of Liberal leadership after Conservative Stephen Harper’s near-decade in power.
Trudeau and his Cabinet will officially take office at the ceremony Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m.
Migrant crisis could reignite Balkan conflicts
Reuters, Ljubljana
The migrant crisis engulfing Europe threatens to reignite conflicts between former Yugoslav republics which fought each other during the 1990s, Slovenia’s prime minister said on Tuesday.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants, many of them fleeing Syria’s civil war, have taken the Balkan route from Greece to western Europe this year, putting great strain on the finances and infrastructure of transit countries, including the ex-Yugoslav states of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.
Xi to visit Vietnam on Friday
Reuters, Hanoi
Although Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t get a gilded carriage or a beer in the prime minister’s local pub on his Vietnam visit, a warm welcome awaits as both sides seek to repair ties after a fierce row last year.
Xi will receive the red-carpet treatment – a big banquet and a chance to address the National Assembly – when he arrives in Hanoi on Friday.
3 Egypt police killed in Sinai bombing
AFP, Cairo
At least three Egyptian policemen were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a police club in the Sinai Penisula on Wednesday, state media reported, as the Islamic State group claimed the attack.
State television said there were also wounded in the bombing in North Sinai provincial capital El-Arish.
