37 dead in heavy rains in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 29: At least 37 people were killed and about 5,000 others displaced in northeastern Brazil due to heavy rains, authorities said Saturday. Recife City, the capital of northeastern Pernambuco State, is the most affected by the rains, where 35 people died and about 1,000 others fled their home, according to the local Civil Defence. In Alagoas State, two people were killed in the rains, with more than 4,000 residents evacuated. Meanwhile, secondary disasters triggered by the heavy rainfall also caused casualties. On Saturday, 20 people were killed in a landslide in Recife, while six others died in another landslide in the nearby city of Camaragibe. — Xinhua
25 missing after ferry sinks in Indonesia
JAKARTA, May 29: Rescuers in Indonesia were searching for 25 people who were missing after a ferry sank in the Makassar Strait in Central Sulawesi province, officials said Sunday. A total of 42 people were on the boat when it sank in bad weather on Thursday morning while traveling from a seaport in Makassar to Kalmas Island in Pangkep Regency, said Djunaedi, the head of the South Sulawesi National Search and Rescue Agency. — AP
Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi wins best actress at Cannes
TEHRAN, May 29: Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who lives in exile following a smear campaign about her love life, wept with joy as she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Ebrahimi, 41, won for Holy Spider, in which she plays a journalist trying to solve the serial murders of prostitutes in Iran's holy city of Mashhad. "I have come a long way to be on this stage tonight. It was not an easy story. It was humiliation but there was cinema," she told the audience in her acceptance speech on Saturday. Directed by Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasi, Holy Spider was inspired by the true story of a working-class man who killed prostitutes in the early 2000s and became known as the "Spider Killer". The film was not permitted to shoot in Iran and instead was made in Jordan. Ebrahimi became a star in Iran in her early 20s for her supporting role in one of its longest-running soap operas, Nargess. — Al Jazeera
Pope names 21 new cardinals
VATICAN CITY, May 29: Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he would appoint 21 new cardinals in August, including an Italian leading the Church in Mongolia, again putting his stamp on the future of Catholicism. Of the 21, 16 are cardinal electors under 80 years old and thus eligible to enter a conclave to elect his successor after his death or resignation. After the Aug. 27 ceremony to officially install them, known as a consistory, Francis will have appointed about 83 of the some 133 cardinal electors, increasing the possibility his successor will be a man reflecting his position on key issues. — Reuters