A total of 287 people were killed and 239 injured in the recent tribal conflict in Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile State, a local official said yesterday.
Health Minister of Blue Nile State Jamal Nasir said in a statement that forensic medicine teams would determine the causes of deaths of a number of burnt bodies to see whether they had suffered weapon attacks or beatings.
On 19 and 20 October, fighting broke out between the Hausa and Berta tribes in Blue Nile State, reportedly because of their disputes over land ownership.
On 21 October, Blue Nile State Governor Ahmed El Omda Badi issued a decision to form a fact-finding committee to investigate the tribal fighting in the state.
The governor also issued a decree declaring a state of emergency in all parts of the Blue Nile region for 30 days.
XINHUA
2 (JERUSALEM, 31 OCT, XINHUA) – An Israeli police officer shot and ‘neutralised’ a Palestinian man who rammed his car toward Israeli soldiers at a bus station in the occupied West Bank yesterday, the Israeli police said in a statement.
The car attack, which took place at the Nabi Musa Junction to the north of the Dead Sea, injured five Israeli soldiers, with two moderately injured and the other three sustaining light injuries, the Israeli army said in a separate statement, adding they all need hospital treatment.
The Palestinian accelerated his vehicle toward the Israeli troops at the junction and from there went on to another crossroad, where he rammed into more troops.
The suspect stopped after his vehicle hit a wall of the bus station, according to the statements.
The Palestinian was seriously injured after being shot, according to a report by the Hebrew-language Ynet news site.
XINHUA
3 (MORBI, 31 OCT, AFP) – At least 132 people died in India when a colonial-era pedestrian bridge packed with revellers collapsed into the river below, police said today.
Authorities said nearly 500 people were celebrating the last day of the Diwali festival on and around the nearly 150-year-old suspension bridge in Morbi when supporting cables snapped after dark yesterday.
CCTV footage showed the structure in the western state of Gujarat swaying – with a few people apparently deliberately rocking it – before it suddenly gave way.
The walkway and one fence crashed into the river, leaving the other side dangling in mid-air and hundreds of people in the water.
News reports showed footage of people clinging onto the twisted remains of the bridge or trying to swim to safety in the dark.
The bridge over the Machchhu river, a popular tourist spot, had only reopened several days earlier for the local Gujarati New Year holiday after months of repairs.
AFP
4 (SAO PAULO, 31 OCT, AFP) – Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for ‘peace and unity’ after narrowly winning a divisive runoff election yesterday, capping a remarkable political comeback by defeating far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro – who has yet to accept defeat.
The victory marks a stunning turnaround for the charismatic but tarnished leftist heavyweight, who left office in 2010 as the most popular president in Brazilian history, fell into disgrace when he was imprisoned for 18 months on controversial, since-quashed corruption charges, and now returns for an unprecedented third term at age 77.
All eyes will now be on how Bolsonaro and his supporters react to the result after months of alleging – without evidence – that Brazil’s electronic voting system is plagued by fraud and that the courts, media and other institutions had conspired against his far-right movement.
‘This country needs peace and unity,’ Lula said to loud cheers in a victory speech in Sao Paulo.
‘The challenge is immense,’ he said of the job ahead, citing a hunger crisis, the economy, bitter political division, and deforestation in the Amazon.
AFP
5 (LONDON, 31 OCT, PA MEDIA/DPA) – Almost 1 000 migrants arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel on Saturday, government figures show.
Huge lines of people thought to be migrants could be seen waiting to be processed at the Border Force compound in Dover, Kent, as a total of 990 arrived.
Nearly 40 000 have arrived in Britain so far this year after attempting the treacherous trip from France, crossing the world’s busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other small boats, provisional figures show.
It is the highest number of arrivals in one day for a number of weeks, with more crossings taking place yesterday morning.
The highest number in a single day was set on 22 August when 1 295 people arrived in the country.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
