More EU leaders expected to back calls for offshore asylum centresMigration to dominate summit as four people including two toddlers die after falling from crowded speedboat off KosA growing number of European leaders are expected to back calls for offshore immigration centres, as the EU casts around for tougher measures to stop asylum seekers reaching the bloc.EU officials were preparing for intensive talks on migration at a leaders' summit on Thursday, as it emerged that four people, including two toddlers, had died after falling overboard from an overcrowded speedboat off the Greek island of Kos. Continue reading...
Explosion kills scores of Nigerians collecting fuel from crashed tankerPeople were collecting fuel from tanker that had crashed when it blew up, according to local policeMore than 140 people have died in an explosion while rushing to scoop up fuel from a crashed tanker in north-west Nigeria, in one of the country's worst such incidents in recent times.Local authorities said the vehicle crashed late on Tuesday night after the driver lost control on the Kano-Hadejia expressway near the town of Majiya in Jigawa state. It then exploded while onlookers were scooping spilt fuel with cups and buckets. Continue reading...
Grand Egyptian Museum to open main galleries for trial run to 4,000 visitorsDate for official opening still not announced for $1bn-plus mega-project more than a decade in the makingEgypt's vast and much-delayed antiquities museum will partly open its main galleries on Wednesday, including 12 halls that exhibit aspects of ancient Egypt.The Grand Egyptian Museum, a mega-project near the famed Giza pyramids that has cost considerably more than $1bn (£765m) so far, will open its halls to 4,000 visitors as a trial run until the official opening date, which is yet to be announced, according to Al-Tayeb Abbas, assistant to the minister of antiquities. Continue reading...
EU unable to retrieve €150m paid to Tunisia despite links to rights violationsConcerns are growing that funds from the migration deal are connected to abuses by the repressive regime in TunisThe EU will be unable to claw back any of the €150m (£125m) paid to Tunisia despite the money being increasingly linked to human rights violations, including allegations that sums went to security forces who raped migrant women.The European Commission paid the amount to the Tunis government in a controversial migration and development deal, despite concerns that the north African state was increasingly authoritarian and its police largely operated with impunity. Continue reading...
Cameroon bans discussing president's health as absence fuels speculationHealth of Paul Biya, 91, declared matter of national security and any debate prohibited after denial that he has diedCameroonian authorities have banned discussions about the health of the president, Paul Biya, after the latest round of speculation about his prolonged failure to appear in public.In a 9 October letter to regional governors, the interior minister, Paul Atanga Nji, said discussing the 91-year-old president's health was a matter of national security and "any debate in the media about the president's condition is therefore strictly prohibited". Continue reading...
Dramatic images show the first floods in the Sahara in half a centuryMore than year's worth of rain fell in two days in south-east Morocco, filling up lake that had been dry for decadesDramatic pictures have emerged of the first floods in the Sahara in half a century.Two days of rainfall in September exceeded yearly averages in several areas of south-east Morocco and caused a deluge, officials of the country's meteorology agency said in early October. In Tagounite, a village about 450km(280 miles) south of the capital, Rabat, more than 100mm (3.9 inches) was recorded in a 24-hour period. Continue reading...
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