Sudan, Egypt talk, but accomplish little
CAIRO — Officials from Sudan and Egypt on Saturday held “honest” and “transparent” discussions after months of tension between the two Afro-Arab neighbors, but appeared to make little headway on key issues such as a border region held by Cairo and claimed by Khartoum.
Sudan’s visiting foreign minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, and his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, spoke of the “holy” relations binding the two Nile Basin nations, but reported no tangible progress in a joint news conference they held in the Egyptian capital after talks.
At the center of tensions between the two is sovereignty over the so-called Halayeb Triangle on the Red Sea, an issue that dates back to colonial times. Egypt refuses to submit the dispute to international arbitration, a Sudanese request.
The tension was further stoked when Sudan decided recently to ban all agricultural and animal imports from Egypt over health concerns, a claim hotly disputed by Cairo. And last month, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir accused Egypt of arming rebels fighting his government in the western Darfur region. Egypt has denied the accusation.
Video shows casino attacker’s rampage
MANILA, Philippines — Security camera footage released Saturday of the Manila casino attack that killed 37 people shows an armed man’s movements during the 90-minute episode.
A Philippine police spokesman, Oscar Albayalde, said authorities released the footage to show the public that the still-unidentified man acted alone and that his motive was robbery, not terrorism, in the attack early Friday at Resorts World Manila.
After the man arrived, he rode up in an elevator. When he stepped out, he was wearing a mask. He walked past a metal detector without stopping, prompting a security guard to run after him. He began firing his weapon, and people began fleeing.
The man moved through several rooms, pouring fluid on gambling tables and other furniture and setting them on fire. The man eventually broke into a room where gambling chips were stored and loaded more than $2 million worth into a backpack.
He then walked upstairs, where he set a room on fire and shot himself. The body was burned beyond recognition, Albayalde said.
U.N. fears for bleached Australia coral
CANBERRA, Australia — A United Nations agency said Saturday that it had “serious concern” about coral bleaching on Australia’s Great Barrier and urged the government to work faster to improve water quality in the region.
UNESCO said in a draft report to the World Heritage Committee released in Paris on the state of conservation of World Heritage-listed properties that “climate change remains the most significant overall threat to the future” of the 1,400-mile coral expanse.
“It is recommended that the committee express its serious concern at the coral bleaching and mortality that occurred” over the previous two south-hemisphere summers, the report said.
The agency recommended that Australia be asked in a final report to “accelerate its efforts to reach the quality targets” it set out in a reef conservation plan in December.
S. Africa party’s ex-leader faces penalty
JOHANNESBURG — The former head of South Africa’s main opposition party faced suspension from party activities Saturday after saying in a series of tweets that colonialism had some positive results.
The uproar over Helen Zille’s comments underlined the challenges facing the Democratic Alliance, whose roots lie in white liberal opposition to apartheid decades ago. The party has broadened its appeal and made gains in local elections last year, but the ruling African National Congress still dismisses it as primarily representative of South Africa’s white minority.
Zille tweeted in March that the colonial legacy was not all negative, citing “our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc.”
Mmusi Maimane, who is black and replaced Zille as party leader, said party leaders decided that Zille should be “suspended from all party-related activities until such time as her disciplinary hearing is concluded,” Maimane said.