News in Brief 2024-07-06

89 migrants dead at sea off Mauritania
NOUAKCHOTT, July 05: Nearly 90 migrants bound for Europe perished when their boat capsized earlier this week off the coast of Mauritania, the state news agency and a local official said Thursday, while dozens more remain missing. "The Mauritanian coast guard recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large traditional fishing boat that capsized on Monday July 1 on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean" about four kilometres from the country's southwest city of Ndiago, the state news agency said. — AFP
Some Caribbean islands destroyed by Hurricane Beryl
GENEVA, July 05: The Red Cross on Friday described devastating scenes after Hurricane Beryl swept through the Caribbean towards Mexico, with St. Vincent and the Grenadines heavily impacted and two Grenada islands 'destroyed'. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said national teams had seen first hand the life-threatening impact Beryl's rains. The storm has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean and the coast of Venezuela, killing at least seven people, before nearing Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday. — AFP
Gas leak at Malaysia's main
int'l airport sickens 39
KUALA LAMPUR, July 05: A gas leak at Malaysia's main international airport has left 39 people ill, authorities have said. Fire services on Thursday responded to a report of a chemical leak at an aircraft engineering facility separate from the passenger terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Selangor state fire department said. "A total of 39 victims suffered from dizziness and nausea," local rescue officer Muhammad Nur Khairi Samsumin said in a statement. — Al Jazeera
Ex-prime minister Liz Truss loses
seat at UK election
LONDON, July 05: Former UK prime minister Liz Truss, in power for 49 chaotic days in 2022, sensationally lost her seat at the British general election Friday as the Conservatives suffered a landslide defeat. Truss-an member of parliament since 2010 who sparked financial turmoil during her short tenure as British leader-lost her Norfolk South West constituency in eastern England to Labour by 630 votes. — AFP

Jailed separatist, Kashmir leader sworn into India parliament
NEW DELHI, July 05: A Sikh separatist and a Kashmiri politician temporarily left jail Friday to be sworn into India's parliament after both men won resounding victories in last month's election from behind bars. Firebrand preacher Amritpal Singh, 31, was arrested last year after a month-long police manhunt but defeated 26 other candidates to win his seat in Punjab state. Sheikh Abdul "Engineer" Rashid, a former state legislator in Indian-administered Kashmir arrested on terrorism funding accusations, won his constituency in the disputed Himalayan region by more than 200,000 votes. — AFP