S. Sudan relents, allows peacekeepers
JUBA, South Sudan -- South Sudan has agreed to the deployment of a 4,000-strong regional protection force approved by the U.N. Security Council after first rejecting the peacekeepers as a violation of its sovereignty.
Sunday's announcement came after the Security Council met with South Sudan President Salva Kiir during a rare visit to the East African country.
The threat of an arms embargo loomed over the meeting, as the council has said it would pursue one if South Sudan didn't accept the additional peacekeepers. The U.N. already has 12,000 peacekeepers in the country, and South Sudan has been wary of giving it more authority.
"The Security Council came to achieve what we have secured," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.
Protecting civilians has become an even more critical issue after fighting broke out in the capital, Juba, in July, killing hundreds and sparking fears of a return to civil war in the already devastated country.
Both civilians and foreigners, including aid workers, were targeted in the July chaos by South Sudanese soldiers who raped women and girls, conducted mock executions and forced people at one hotel compound to watch a local journalist be shot dead.
Challenges already lie ahead for the 4,000 additional peacekeepers, who are responsible for protecting civilians in Juba and perhaps beyond. U.N. officials say the new force needs more than two months to deploy.
Afghan bus, fuel tanker collide; 36 die
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Afghan official says at least 36 passengers, including women and children, have been killed when their bus collided with a fuel tanker in southern Zabul province.
Gul Islam Seyal, spokesman for the provincial governor in Zabul, said Sunday that more than 25 others are seriously wounded with some in critical condition.
The collision took place in Shar-e Safa district, on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar.
Seyal blamed both drivers for being reckless.
He says authorities will transfer patients in critical condition to neighboring Kandahar province.
In May, 52 people were killed on the same highway in Ghazni province in a collision involving two buses and a fuel tanker.
Nigeria reports arms sales to extremists
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -- Nigeria's military says some officers are selling arms and ammunition to Boko Haram, indicating the corruption bedeviling the country's fight against the Islamic extremists continues despite government efforts to halt graft.
The admission comes three weeks after the Nigerian army said a military tribunal is trying 16 officers and troops accused of offenses related to the fight against Boko Haram, including the theft and sale of ammunition.
Maj. Gen. Lucky Irabor, the theater commander in northeastern Nigeria, told a news conference on Thursday that military authorities have confirmed that some soldiers were selling arms and ammunition to Boko Haram. He called it a betrayal of the Nigerian people. He gave no more details.
President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed corruption for the deaths of thousands in the seven-year Islamic uprising that has killed more than 20,000. Children who escaped Boko Haram are dying of starvation in refugee camps in the northeast, where the government is investigating reports of food aid theft.
Death prompts anti-bias rally in France
PARIS -- Crowds rallied Sunday in the French capital to urge an end to violence against the Asian community, after the beating death of a Chinese tailor called new attention to ethnic tensions in Paris suburbs.
The prime minister tweeted his support for the march, organized by anti-bias and Chinese community groups calling for better police protection. Local officials and representatives of the governing Socialist Party also took part.
The spark for the protest against discrimination was the death of Chaolin Zhangh last month in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers after a robbery attempt. The victim's lawyer says the attack was ethnically motivated, and the area's Chinese immigrant community says it is routinely targeted by armed robbers and violence.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve met with Zhangh's family and the mayor of Aubervilliers, home to a large Chinese community and textile industry, and promised better security.
Three teenagers -- two of them minors -- have been arrested and handed preliminary charges in the death, the regional prosecutor's office said. They haven't been identified.
A Section on 09/05/2016