Texas University okays guns on campus
AP, Austin
Concealed handguns will be allowed in University of Texas classrooms but generally banned from dorms under rules begrudgingly approved Wednesday by the school’s president, whose hand was forced by a new state law.
Like many who study or work at the school in liberal Austin, President Greg Fenves opposes allowing guns on the roughly 50,000-student campus.
Bomb kills Thai soldier
AFP, Bangkok
A roadside bomb killed a 22-year-old Thai soldier today and critically wounded another member of a patrol team providing security to teachers in the country’s insurgency-torn southern tip.
Police said the explosive was detonated remotely while six soldiers were doing a security sweep on a road for teachers on their way to a school in Bacho district, Narathiwat province.
Mugabe refuses to relinquish power
Reuters, Harare
When U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged African leaders not to cling to power at a summit last month, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe responded by saying he would continue “until God says ‘come'”.
Mugabe turns 92 on Sunday and, judging by those comments, has no intention of stepping down – despite being Africa’s oldest leader and the only president Zimbabwe has known since independence in 1980.
2m need food aid in Niger : UN
AFP, Niger
Two million people will be in urgent need of food aid this year in Niger despite a healthy cereal surplus in the arid west African nation, the United Nations said Thursday.
Aid groups will help some 1.5 million people including refugees from neighbouring countries, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The Nigerian government has pledged to help another 500,000 people in need.
“Humanitarian agencies estimate the number of people needing food assistance in Niger at 2 million,” said a monthly OCHA report.
