Health minister resigns in Tunisia
as 11 newborns die
TUNIS, Mar 10: Tunisia's health minister Abdel-Raouf El-Sherif has resigned following multiple investigations launched into the sudden deaths of 11 newborns at a state maternity hospital in the capital. Prime Minister Youssef Chahed accepted El-Sherif's resignation, according to official news agency TAP, after the health ministry said 11 newborns were reported dead on Thursday and Friday at Rabta hospital in Tunis. — Al Jazeera
Malaysia deports seven for terrorism
KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 10: Malaysian police say six Egyptians and a Tunisian man believed to be linked to an African-based terror group have been detained and deported. National police chief Mohamad Fuzi Harun says one of the Egyptians and the Tunisian national are suspected members of Ansar Al-Sharia Al-Tunisia, which is based in North Africa and listed as a terrorist group by the UN. — AP
China launches communication satellite
XICHANG, Mar 10: China on Sunday sent a new communication satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The "ChinaSat 6C" satellite was launched at 0:28 a.m. Beijing Time by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It will provide high-quality radio and TV transmission services. — Xinhua
Netanyahu warns Hamas after Gaza unrest
JERUSALEM, Mar 10: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas Sunday that Israel would not hesitate to launch a "large-scale operation" in Gaza, as daily exchanges with the Palestinian territory threatened a wider escalation. Speaking ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu noted that while "rogue factions" were behind the recent Gaza "provocations", it "did not exempt Hamas", the enclave's Islamist rulers, of responsibility. — AFP
Scores hurt as train derails in West Java
JAKARTA, Mar 10: Scores of people were wounded after a passenger train derailed off railway in Boogor district of West Java province in Indonesia on Sunday, head of community police in the district Agus Priyonyo told Xinhua over phone. — Xinhua
Sudanese court sends nine women to prison
CAIRO, Mar 10: A Sudanese opposition group says an emergency court in the capital, Khartoum, sentenced nine women to a month's imprisonment and 20 lashes each for taking part in anti-government protests. The Democratic Lawyers Alliance says the court subsequently waived the flogging amid pressure from families of the women who were rallying outside the courthouse on Saturday. The alliance is part of an umbrella organisation spearheading three months of anti-government protests across Sudan. — AP
Egypt appoints military officer as minister
CAIRO, Mar 10: Egypt's president is appointing a military officer to lead the country's transportation ministry, less than two weeks after its minister resigned over a deadly February train crash in Cairo that killed 25 people. The general turned president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, said on Sunday that Maj. Gen. Kamal el-Waziri, who heads the military's engineering authority, is awaiting approval from parliament to replace Hisham Arafat as transportation minister. — AP
Zuma used intel services
to target Ramaphosa
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 10: Former South African president Jacob Zuma used the country's intelligence services for his own political and personal interests, most notably against his successor, Cyril Ramaphosa, a government report charges. Published Saturday on Ramaphosa's initiative, the report of about 100 pages details "serious breaches of the Constitution, policy, law, regulations and directives" by Zuma during his nearly nine years in office. — AFP
