News in Brief- (1-11-2018)

Modi unveils towering statue of Vallabhbhai Patel
NEW DELHI, Oct 31: India's prime minister on Wednesday unveiled a towering bronze statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a key independence leader being promoted as a national icon in the ruling party's campaign ahead of next year's general elections. Patel, who hailed from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's native Gujarat state, was also India's first home minister after the 1947 independence from Britain. He was known as the "Iron Man of India" for integrating various states in the post-independence era, when the creation of Pakistan led to massive bloodshed between Hindus and Muslims moving between the two nations. — AP
South Sudan opposition leader returns to join peace rally
JUBA, Oct 31: For the first time since fleeing South Sudan more than two years ago, opposition leader Riek Machar returned to the capital to take part in a nationwide peace celebration. Machar was welcomed in Juba by South Sudan President Salva Kiir and several regional leaders. Under the new peace deal signed on September 12, Machar will once again serve as a vice president in Kiir's government. — AP
Indonesia protests secret Saudi execution of domestic worker
JAKARTA, Oct 31: Jakarta has filed an official protest with Saudi Arabia after the oil-rich kingdom executed an Indonesian domestic worker without notifying her family or consular staff. Tuti Tursilawati was executed Monday in the city of Thaif, Indonesia's foreign ministry said, seven years after she was sentenced to death for killing her employer in an act she claimed was self defence from sexual abuse. President Joko Widodo criticised the decision Wednesday, saying the government has officially protested to Riyadh and demanded better protection of Indonesian workers in the country. — AFP
Heir to Spanish throne speaks publicly for first time
MADRID, Oct 31: The heir to the Spanish throne, 13-year-old Princess Leonor, has made her first public address at an official event marking the 40th anniversary of Spain's Constitution. Leonor de Borbon, the elder of two daughters of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, read out the first of 169 articles of Spain's Carta Magna, which was approved by the Spanish Parliament on Oct. 31, 1978. King Felipe read the law's preamble and was then joined on stage by his daughter at the Cervantes Institute in Madrid. — AP