At least 25 people died when a land dispute in Myanmar turned violent this week, a regional MP said Friday, as details were still emerging days after the brawl.
It is unclear what sparked the July 23 clash in central Magway region and whether all the deaths were from fighting or the sinking of a boat full of people fleeing the violence.
But Magway region lawmaker Tint Lwin said 25 bodies had been found and 13 people were still missing, adding that authorities had been hauling corpses out of the Irrawaddy River for the last two days.
"There was a serious fight," he told AFP.
"I've never had this kind of experience before."
Hundreds of villagers were involved in the clashes but no one has been arrested yet as authorities carry out post mortems and try to determine what happened, he said.
The central region is about 12 hours north of the commercial capital Yangon.
State-backed Global New Light of Myanmar said a boat capsized as villagers along the river tried to leave, while survivors ...

At least 25 dead after Myanmar land dispute: MP

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His father was assassinated by a notorious Karachi hitman, while his police partner was murdered by the Taliban.
Personal tragedy haunts the hard-boiled novels that are turning top cop Omar Shahid Hamid into one of Pakistan's most popular English-language authors.
For nearly two decades Hamid has worn a badge in Karachi, the mega port city on the Arabian Sea that for years was rife with vicious political and extremist violence.
Now a deputy inspector general, he is also fast becoming one of Pakistan's most recognisable writers, publishing four books in quick succession since 2013.
His work has even nabbed the attention of major streaming outlets on the hunt for new original material from South Asia, including Netflix, which has already seen major success with similar material in TV series such as Sacred Games, about Mumbai's corrupt underworld.
Hamid said the secret to his success is his unflinching accounts of political corruption, contract killers, and crooked cops alongside nuanced 

Karachi vice: Pakistani cop channels police stories into gritty novels

The cardinal who played a key role in improving ties between Cuba and the United States during the administration of Barack Obama died on Friday at the age of 82, the archbishop of Havana said.
Jaime Ortega worked as an intermediary for Pope Francis in negotiations to ease the bad blood between Washington and Havana after five decades.
Cold War rivals the US and Cuba began normalising relations in December 2014 and the next year they restored diplomatic ties.
"Cardinal Jaime has died and while his physical absence is starting to be felt, the memories of his personal quality and tireless pastoral zeal are revived with grateful affection," said archbishop Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez in a statement.
Born in 1936 in Matanzas, Ortega led the Catholic church in Cuba for 35 years before retiring in 2016.
He submitted his resignation as Archbishop of Havana in 2011 when 75, as Vatican rules required, but his close personal friend the pope refused it then, acquiescing only in 2016.
He .

Cuban cardinal who fostered thaw with US dead at 82

Russia on Friday threatened Moscow-based British media with retaliation after London's media watchdog imposed a heavy fine on the Kremlin-backed TV channel RT.
"British media working in Russia should be prepared to face the consequences of London's actions," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. The fine is an "act of censorship", it added.

Russia threatens to retaliate after UK fines RT TV channel

A UK court has ruled in London's favour in a long-standing financial dispute with Iran that has wider political ramifications for Britain's increasingly strained relationship with the Islamic republic.
The case revolves a payment of 650 million pounds made by Iran in the 1970s to buy 1,500 Chieftain tanks from Britain and repair 250 more.
The deal was blocked after the 1979 Islamic Revolution deposed the Western-backed Shah.
Britain kept the paid portion of the contract.  Just under 400 million pounds (USD 500 million, 450 million euros) are now being kept in a frozen British bank account.
Sending the money to Tehran is further complicated by EU and US sanctions linked to Iran's nuclear programme.
A judge with the UK High Court ruled on Wednesday that Britain did not owe Iran interest payments of more than 20 million pounds that had accumulated on the sum over 10 years.
Justice Stephen Phillips cited a precedent case that found claims made by any "Iranian person, entity or body, ...

British court rules against Iran in tank payment dispute

Veteran star Meryl Streep will be honoured Tribute Actor award at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
The 70-year-old actor will be the first-ever recipient of the award, the festival organisers said.
"Announcing the incomparable Meryl Streep as the first-ever recipient of our TIFF Tribute Actor Award. #TIFF19" read a post from the festival's official Twitter handle.
Streep will receive the award in person on September 9, they added.
The actor's next film "The Laundromat", about the Panama Papers scandal, is among the films that will be screened at the famed festival.
TIFF 2019 will run from September 5-15.

Meryl Streep to receive Tribute Actor Award at TIFF 2019

As an optometrist in the small Arkansas town of Osceola, Matthew Jones must tell patients several times a week to seek treatment elsewhere  sometimes as far as an hour away  for procedures he says he's fully capable of performing.
"They look at me and ask, 'Why don't you just do it?' I tell them, 'I'm not legally allowed to do it,'" Jones said.
He and other optometrists hope to change that after successfully lobbying Arkansas' Legislature to change the law to expand the procedures they can perform.
It prompted an unexpectedly expensive and heated lobbying fight in the Statehouse, with ophthalmologists arguing the law will put patients at risk.
The change is now on hold and could go before voters next year.
It's an unusually high-profile example of a fight that's being waged in other medical fields, as policymakers try to find ways to expand access to care and cut costs.
"This is, to me, a marker of a whole new era where we're going to see a lot more of this stuff," said Ashish Jha, a .

Eye surgery law sparks unusually public dispute in Arkansas

Nearly half of all the families in Pakistan are unable to meet their nutritional needs due to poverty, affecting a large number of children with chronic malnutrition and stunted growth, a media report on Friday quoted the first-ever survey of its kind in the cash-strapped country as saying.
According to the National Nutrition Survey 2018, poverty keeps more than 50 per cent of Pakistani families from having two meals a day, leading to severe dietary deficiencies, The Express Tribune reported.
As a result, as many as 40.2 per cent of all children in Pakistan are affected by chronic malnutrition and stunted growth, which inhibits both their cognitive and physical development, the exercise carried out by the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) revealed.
The survey also discovered that 36.9 per cent of Pakistani households remain food insecure and lack reliable access to affordable nutritious food in sufficient amounts.
The objective of the survey is to draw the attention of ...

Over 50 per cent families in Pakistan cannot have two meals a day: survey

The company building a new gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is asking a European Union court to annul changes made this year to an EU gas directive on the grounds that they discriminate against the project.
The changes introduced in April extended the rules governing the EU's internal gas market to pipelines to and from other countries.
Those rules include ensuring that a gas producer isn't also the sole operator of a pipeline.
Nord Stream 2, owned by Russia's Gazprom, said Friday that it has asked the EU's General Court to annul the amendment to the directive, alleging that it "was clearly designed and adopted for the purpose of disadvantaging and discouraging the Nord Stream 2 pipeline."
The pipeline is opposed by eastern European countries and the US.

Russia-owned pipeline operator challenges EU gas rules

A British car industry group has urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to avoid leaving the European Union without a deal, warning it would present an "existential threat" to the sector.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders wrote the newly installed leader to underscore the importance of the 18.6-billion-pound industry.
The letter says a no-deal Brexit "would result in huge tariff costs and disruption that would threaten production."
Less than 100 days before Britain's scheduled withdrawal date, the government doesn't have an approved agreement on the terms that will replace the 45 years of frictionless trade that came with being an EU member.
Johnson has threatened to take the country out of the 28-nation-trading bloc without a deal.

UK car lobby warns Johnson against no-deal Brexit

A man who falsely claimed he was abused by a murderous pedophile ring at the heart of the British government has been sentenced to 18 years in prison in the north of England.
Carl Beech was the key witness in a well-publicized investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and murder involving politicians, military generals, and senior figures in the intelligence services.
He was convicted of perverting the course of justice and fraud and sentenced Friday.
Beech told police he was the victim of sexual abuse by a "VIP ring" in the late 1970s and early 1980s, leading those wrongly accused to have their properties raided and one former lawmaker to lose his home and job.

Fraudster who fabricated abuse by UK elite sentenced

Pakistan's Supreme Court has expressed displeasure with Sindh provincial authorities for allowing the national performing art academy to carry out construction on the premises of Hindu Gymkhana, a heritage building here, and summoned top officials of culture to appear at the next hearing.
The petitioner contended that the heritage site belonged to the Hindu community of Karachi before the partition as it was established for the promotion of social and religious activities of Hindus, but the government took it over as an evacuee trust property after the partition.
Therefore, the petitioner argued that directive may be issued to the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) to vacate the building and hand it over to the Hindu community.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Thursday heard the petition filed by Shree Ratneshwar Mahadev Welfare in 2014 seeking ban on construction on the premises of Hindu Gymkhana, Dawn newspaper reported.
The Napa is located in the ...

Pak SC irked by construction on Hindu Gymkhana premises in Sindh

Kusal Perera scored a quick-fire century to power Sri Lanka to 314-8 in the first of a three-match One-day International series against Bangladesh in Colombo on Friday.
Perera struck 111 off 99 balls with 17 fours and a six, his fifth ODI century, as Sri Lanka punished Bangladesh's wayward bowling after skipper Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and elected to bat first.
Perera put on 97 runs with Karunaratne for the second wicket before adding 100 with Kusal Mendis for the third to set up the platform for a strong total.
Shafiul Islam, who finished with 3-62 in his first match in three years, drew first blood for Bangladesh when he had opener Avishka Fernando caught by Soumya Sarkar at slip for seven.
Perera was reprieved on 49 runs when the third umpire overturned a caught behind decision off Shafiul.
Part-time seamer Soumya ended the valiant knock of Perera as he was caught at short fine leg by Mustafizur Rahman.
Mendis who was dropped on 28 by Mahmudullah Riyad off Soumya fell to ...

Ton-up Perera steers Sri Lanka to 314-8

Photos transmitted from The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft orbiting Earth confirm that it successfully deployed its solar sail.
The spacecraft was launched from Florida last month and images from this week's deployment sequence were downlinked from the orbiter by flight controllers at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
One image shows a large part of the sail with much of Mexico and its Baja California peninsula on the Earth below.
The sail is formed by four triangular sheets of extremely thin, reflective Mylar that form a square about the size of a boxing ring.
The project is an experiment to see if the momentum of photons hitting the sail will accelerate the craft sufficiently to raise its orbit.
Such sails could potentially propel tiny satellites known as CubeSats.

Images show Lightsail 2 spacecraft's solar sail has deployed

Libya's coast guard recovered dozens of bodies of Europe-bound migrants who perished at sea as search operations continued Friday, a day after up to 150 people, including women and children, went missing and were feared drowned after their boats capsized in the Mediterranean Sea.
A top UN official described Thursday's shipwreck as "the worst Mediterranean tragedy" so far this year.
Also Friday, Libyan authorities transferred dozens of migrants rescued from the disaster to a detention center near Tripoli that was hit by an airstrike earlier this month despite UN objections to such a move, the UN refugee agency said.
The Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency in the capital, Tripoli, said that up to 350 migrants were on board the boats that capsized on Thursday off the coast of the Libyan town of Khoms, around 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Tripoli.
The migrants include nationals from Eretria, Egypt, Sudan and Libya, the agency said.
Libyan officials said more than 130 migrants have been ...

Libya's coast guard recovers dozens of bodies of migrants

Tunisia is gearing up for snap elections as early as September following the death of president Beji Caid Essebsi, amid uncertainty over who could step forward to run the North African country.
Essebsi, the country's first head of state elected in nationwide polls, died Thursday at the age of 92, triggering fears of political unrest in a country seen as a rare success story following the Arab Spring uprisings.
Newspapers on Friday paid tribute to "the father of consensus", while festivals were cancelled and the government declared seven days of mourning.
"Our pain is great, our sorrow is immense," read an editorial in French language daily Le Temps.
Hundreds of people -- some in tears -- gathered outside a military hospital in Tunis on Friday as Essebsi's body was taken to the presidential palace in nearby Carthage for a private burial.
Within hours of Essebsi's death, parliament speaker Mohamed Ennaceur was sworn in as interim president, who under the constitution has 90 days to ...

Tunisia prepares for polls after death of president

The death toll in a landslide that buried a village in southwest China rose to 26 on Friday following the discovery of two more bodies, state media said.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said 25 people were still missing three days after the disaster which struck in Shuicheng county, Guizhou province.
Two children and a mother with a baby - who were unearthed on Thursday - were among the dead, according to official news outlets.
Eleven people have been found alive since the side of a hill collapsed on 22 homes late Tuesday, covering them in thick mud.
CCTV broadcast footage of rescue workers trying to reach survivors on a huge mound of earth, with workers in orange overalls carrying a victim on a stretcher.
Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China, particularly after heavy rain, and the country has suffered severe flooding this year.
In August 2017 at least 30 people were killed in two separate landslides in the same rural province of Guizhou.

China landslide death toll rises to 26

Tanzania's president has inaugurated a huge hydroelectric dam project in the country's largest wildlife reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site, calling it the start of economic liberation.
Some wildlife groups have expressed dismay over the USD 2.9 billion Stiegler's Gorge project in the Selous Game Reserve, which the United Nations calls one of Africa's largest protected areas.
President John Magufuli told Friday's gathering that the reserve has been considered a potential energy source for decades in the East African nation where electricity prices remain high.
He also announced a plan to turn a large part of Selous into a wildlife park named after Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere.
Tanzania's energy minister says the 2,115-megawatt dam's construction is now at 15 per cent and will take another three years to complete.

Tanzania inaugurates huge dam project in World Heritage site

The UN said Friday that the Democratic Republic of Congo's new Ebola response coordinator is considering the use of a second vaccine, after the health minister resigned over the controversial issue.
The Ebola epidemic in eastern DRC, which has been declared a international health emergency, is the first time vaccines have been deployed against the killer virus discovered in 1976.
A vaccine by drugmaker Merck is being widely used in the affected provinces of Ituri and North Kivu.
But WHO has recommended the introduction of a second product made by healthcare company Johnson&Johnson, which could be used for populations removed from the epicentre, while saving limited stocks of the Merck vaccine for the frontlines.
The DRC health minister Oly Ilunga, who was in charge of the Ebola response, resigned this week citing the "strong pressure" he faced to greenlight the new product.
Without naming any individual or agency, he said "actors who have demonstrated a clear lack of ethics," were ...

New DRC Ebola coordinator open to second vaccine: WHO

Before Nazilla Akbari can check out the latest offerings on Twitter or YouTube, she scrolls through an array of icons on her smartphone, searching for the right workaround to bypass state censors.
It's a cat-and-mouse game that has become second nature in Iran, where the clerically-led government restricts access to popular social media sites and where U.S. sanctions create other barriers.
"Every day I struggle for 40 minutes just to get connected to uncensored internet," Akbari, a 30-year-old software developer, told The Associated Press. "Even after I do, the internet is so slow that I have difficulty even watching a short video."
Iranian authorities have sought to limit Western cultural influence since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. They began blocking popular sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube when activists used them to organize mass protests and document a crackdown after a disputed election in 2009.
That hasn't stopped Iranians from accessing such sites through virtual ...

Iranians manage to surf the web despite tide of censorship

The American economy hit the brakes in the second quarter, as activity declined in an increasingly skittish industrial sector and exports fell, but the US continues to outperform other advanced economies, according to government data released Friday.
Officials also slashed growth for last year using newly available data -- cutting a crucial 2018 GDP measure to 2.5 per cent, undercutting President Donald Trump's frequent boasts about beating 3.0 per cent.
The new data covering the past five years now show the world's largest economy actually slowed in the year after Trump pushed through a sweeping tax overhaul.
The updated data also highlight how momentum deteriorated in the final months of 2018, when the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in defiance of intense pressure from Trump.
The central bank next week is widely expected to cut its benchmark lending rate, reversing December's increase.
The Commerce Department reported that GDP in the April-June quarter slowed to 2.1 per cent .

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