A roundup of today's other world news in brief
Death toll from Jeddah floods at more than 100
DUBAI– Saudi emergency services say the death toll from floods that tore through the port city of Jeddah this week has risen to 103, with another 1,400 rescued, according to the state news agency.
Torrents of water inundated the Red Sea port on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia saw some of its heaviest rainfall in years. Many people were drowned or were killed by collapsing bridges and in car crashes.
No pilgrims attending the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage, 80km away in Mecca, were among the dead, officials have said. Jeddah is the main entry point to the kingdom for pilgrims.
Newspapers have repeatedly reported on the poor condition of the sewerage infrastructure of the city, where many people live in unauthorised developments built on dry riverbeds.
– (Reuters)
73 killed after boat sinks in DRC lake
KINSHASA– At least 73 people were killed and many others are missing after a logging boat sank in a lake in western Democratic Republic of Congo, a Red Cross official said on Saturday.
The boat sank in bad weather.
It had been transporting logs on Lake Mai Ndombe in Bandundu province with no authorisation to take on passengers, United Nations-sponsored Radio Okapi said.
“We are at 272 survivors and 73 dead. These are bodies that we have found along the shores of the lake,” Dominic Lutula, president of the Congolese Red Cross said.
“There are still some people missing, but we don’t know how many because there was no ship’s manifest,” he added.
Radio Okapi said the boat, which was owned by a logging company called Sodefor, sank at about 8pm on Wednesday.
– (Reuters)
Obama crashers tout tale to networks
The couple who gatecrashed Barack Obama's first state dinner last week have begun touting their story to TV networks in reported search of a six-figure sum.
Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the socialites who gave the secret service its biggest public relations headache in many years by sneaking through a security cordon, cancelled an interview on
Larry King Livethat had been scheduled for tonight and began seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars to appear on rival shows.
– (Guardian service)
French-Rwandan relations restored
PARIS/KIGALI– France and Rwanda have agreed to restore diplomatic relations, severed in 2006, on the same day the Central African nation was admitted to the Commonwealth.
Kigali cut ties with Paris in 2006 after a French judge accused Rwandan president Paul Kagame and officials of involvement in the assassination of former president Juvenal Habyarimana which sparked the genocide in 1994.
Claude Gueant, chief of staff at the French presidency, met Mr Kagame in Kigali yesterday where they agreed to resume ties.