World News Roundup: Pakistan former premier Imran Khan held after court hands down 3-year sentence; Lebanon seeks to reassure Gulf, Germany after travel warnings and more
Legal experts say the guilty verdict reached by an Islamabad district court could eliminate Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's greatest rival in a national election expected to be held in November. As deadline looms, France backs West Africa's bid to undo Niger coup France said on Saturday it will support efforts to overturn Niger's military coup, a day after West Africa's regional bloc said it had a plan for military intervention.
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.
Pakistan former premier Imran Khan held after court hands down 3-year sentence
Police arrested Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore on Saturday after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts, potentially barring the opposition leader from contesting an upcoming election. Legal experts say the guilty verdict reached by an Islamabad district court could eliminate Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's greatest rival in a national election expected to be held in November.
As deadline looms, France backs West Africa's bid to undo Niger coup
France said on Saturday it will support efforts to overturn Niger's military coup, a day after West Africa's regional bloc said it had a plan for military intervention. Niger's military takeover, the seventh in West and Central Africa in three years, has rocked the western Sahel region, one of the poorest in the world with strategic significance to global powers.
France backs West African efforts to make Niger coup fail
France will support efforts by the West African regional grouping ECOWAS to make the military coup in Niger fail, the French foreign ministry said on Saturday. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met with Niger Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou and the Niger ambassador in Paris on Saturday.
Lebanon seeks to reassure Gulf, Germany after travel warnings
Lebanon's caretaker premier Najib Mikati said on Saturday there was no cause for "concern or panic" about his country's security situation, after Germany and Gulf countries issued new travel warnings following outbreaks of violence. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Germany and Britain updated their travel warnings amid clashes between rival armed groups in the Palestinian camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Lebanon's south.
Blaze engulfs historic ministry building in central Cairo
A historic neo-Islamic ministry in central Cairo was engulfed in flames on Saturday, only days after its employees had moved to premises in a new capital city under construction in the desert 45km east of Cairo. The fire appeared mainly confined to the top floor of the Ministry of Religious Endowments, or Awqaf, building, although flames were seen shooting out of a second floor window as well, according to a Reuters reporter.
Ukraine hits Russian tanker with sea drone near Crimea Bridge
A Ukrainian sea drone full of explosives struck a Russian fuel tanker overnight near a bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea, the second such attack in 24 hours, both sides said on Saturday. No one was hurt, but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, according to Russian-installed officials in Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Amazon rainforest gold mining is poisoning scores of threatened species
In a camping tent in the Peruvian jungle, four scientists crowded around a tiny patient: An Amazonian rodent that could fit in the palm of a human hand. The researchers placed the small-eared pygmy rice rat into a plastic chamber and piped in anesthetic gas until it rolled over, asleep. Removing the creature from the chamber, they fitted it with a miniature anesthetic mask and measured its body parts with a ruler before gently pulling hairs from its back with tweezers.
U.S. publishing executive killed in Italian boating accident
An American publishing executive died after being knocked overboard in a boating accident off the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) said. Adrienne Vaughan headed the U.S. division of British publishing group Bloomsbury, best known for the Harry Potter novels.
Permanent Mission of North Korea to U.N. defends Pyongyang's nuclear weapons as sovereign right
The Permanent Mission of North Korea to the United Nations has criticized the U.S. for having nuclear weapons and urged it to stop "sharing nuclear" or "beefing up extended deterrence," state media KCNA reported on Saturday. While criticizing the U.S. over the AUKUS alliance and the Nuclear Consultative Group with South Korea, Pyongyang defended its nuclear weapons as an "exercise of sovereignty."
China's embassy to Russia criticises treatment of citizens at border
China's embassy in Russia criticised the treatment of five Chinese citizens who were refused entry into Russia, calling the treatment inconsistent with the overall friendly relations between the two countries. The five, attempting to drive into Russia from Kazakhstan late last month, were refused entry after four hours of examination and had their visas cancelled, the embassy said on its WeChat social media account on Friday.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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