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News in Brief (11-1-2019)

January 11, 2019 00:00:00


Opposition candidate wins Congo presidential polls

KINSHASA, Jan 10: Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi has won DR Congo's presidential election, electoral officials say. The announcement, made overnight, sparked accusations of an "electoral coup" from runner-up Martin Fayulu. — BBC

Canadian faces retrial in China case

BEIJING, Jan 10: A Canadian man who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug smuggling in China will face a retrial on Monday, which could hand him a harsher sentence and further strain ties between Beijing and Ottawa. In a statement posted on its website, the northeastern Dalian Intermediate People's Court said Thursday that Robert Lloyd Schellenberg's new trial is scheduled for 8:00 am (0000 GMT) on January 14, but gave no further details. — AFP

People rescue 51 migrants off Italy

MILAN, Jan 10: Italian news agency ANSA says that 51 Kurdish migrants, including six women and four children, have been rescued on a sailboat off the southern Calabria region. ANSA reported Thursday the sailboat grounded just offshore, and the shouts of the stranded migrants woke residents in the town of Melissa. Residents brought them to safety using a dinghy from a nearby hotel, and the hotel staff provided blankets and a place to change and warm themselves by a stove. — AP

Co-founder of porn site gets jail term

SEOUL, Jan 10: A co-founder of one of South Korea's largest pornography websites has been sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Seoul. The woman, surnamed Song, was found guilty of aiding and abetting the distribution of obscene material. Soranet had more than a million users and hosted thousands of illegal videos, many filmed with spy cameras and shared without the consent of women featured. — BBC

Japan, EU trying to stop no-deal Brexit

ROTTERDAM, Jan 10: Japan and EU powers are working "very hard" to prevent Britain leaving the bloc without a deal, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Wednesday with his visiting Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. Rutte said he was also working closely with European powers Germany and France to help British Prime Minister Theresa May get the withdrawal agreement through parliament next week. — AFP

Three lose lives in Sudan protests

OMDURMAN, Jan 10: Sudanese police used tear gas to disperse "illegal" protests against the 30-year rule of President Omar al-Bashir in the city of Omdurman in which three people were killed, state news agency SUNA said on Thursday. Sudan's second-largest city "witnessed riots and illegal gatherings" on Wednesday, SUNA said, amid weeks of demonstrations. — Reuters

Four on trial over theft from museum

BERLIN, Jan 10: Four young men have gone on trial over the brazen theft of a 100-kilogram (221-pound) Canadian gold coin from a Berlin museum. The "Big Maple Leaf" coin, worth several million dollars, was stolen from the Bode Museum in March 2017. Three men, identified only as Wissam R., Ahmed R. and Wayci R., are accused of stealing the coin during the night using a wheelbarrow to haul it away. — AP

Rebels kill four civil defence volunteers

PATTANI, Jan 10: Four Thai civil defence volunteers were gunned down Thursday at a school in the kingdom's south with students just metres away, as bloodshed greets the 15th year of an insurgency in the Malay-Muslim border zone. The culturally distinct region that borders Malaysia has seen rebels fight against the rule of Buddhist-majority Thailand, which annexed the area over a hundred years ago. — AFP

22 hurt in France building blaze

TOULOUSE, Jan 10: Twenty-two people were injured, two seriously, when a fire swept through an apartment building in the southwestern French city of Toulouse, the fire service told AFP on Thursday. Part of the four-storey building collapsed and guests from a neighbouring hotel were also evacuated, said fire lieutenant-colonel Sylvain Gergaud. "The fire spread very quickly through the lift shift," he said. — AFP


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