Dutch reinforce major dam as seas rise
THE AFSLUITDIJK, Sept 23: The Dutch, whose low-lying country is crisscrossed by rivers and bordered by the sea, have been battling with water for centuries. That challenge will only grow as warmer temperatures cause sea levels to rise. With that in mind, the government this year established a "knowledge program on rising sea levels" that aims to feed expertise into the country's ongoing program of building and maintaining its water defenses. — AP
Egypt detains lawyer for attending protesters’ probe
CAIRO, Sept 23: Egyptian authorities on Sunday detained an award-winning human rights lawyer after she attended judicial investigations into protesters arrested during rare demonstrations against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, her lawyer said. Mahienour El-Massry "was arrested as soon as she left the State Security Prosecutor's headquarters in Cairo, where she had attended the investigations as a lawyer for several of those arrested during the demonstrations", Tarek al-Awadi said. Hundreds of Egyptians took to the streets in Cairo and several other cities across the country on Friday to call for Sisi's departure. — AFP
Massive trial in France for diet-pill scandal
PARIS, Sept 23: A massive trial with more than 4,000 plaintiffs is opening for French pharmaceutical giant Servier Laboratoires and France's medicines watchdog, accused of involuntary manslaughter, fraud and other charges in a scandal over a diabetes medication suspected of causing hundreds of deaths. Although designed as a diabetes drug, Mediator was widely prescribed as a hunger suppressant to millions of people before sales were suspended in France in 2009. The trial opening Monday in Paris is expected to last six months. — AP
Women on trial for attack near Notre Dame
PARIS, Sept 23: Before it was ravaged by fire, Notre Dame Cathedral was the target of a bungled terrorist plot by two French women who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. They're going on trial Monday in a special Paris court, for attempting to explode a vehicle laden with fuel-doused gas canisters in the shadow of the medieval monument in 2016. Six other people are also on trial for related terrorism charges. The Notre Dame plot failed, and no one was hurt. — AP
Two Turkish soldiers killed in N Iraq
ANKARA, Sept 23: Two Turkish soldiers were killed on Monday in northern Iraq in an attack blamed on Kurdish militants, the defence ministry said. The soldiers died after an improvised explosive device (IED) "placed by PKK separatist terrorists exploded as a supply convoy was passing", the ministry said. Turkish soldiers have been in northern Iraq since May in a ground offensive and bombing campaign against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). — AFP
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