News In Brief

Bolivia opens probe into 600 former Morales officials
AFP, La Paz
Bolivia’s interim government said Wednesday it would launch a corruption probe into nearly 600 officials of the former administration, including ex-president Evo Morales
“It has been decided to initiate investigations against 592 former officials,” Mathias Kutsch, the justice ministry’s chief anti-corruption investigator, told a news conference.

Road accident in Iran kills 19 people
AP, Tehran
A bus plunged into a ravine in northern Iran early on Thursday morning, killing 19 people and injuring 24, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
According to the report, the accident happened in the northern province of Mazandaran. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital and some were said to be in serious condition. ISNA said the accident was caused by a technical failure in the brakes of the bus.

US imposes sanctions on South Sudanese VP
Reuters, Washington
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on South Sudanese First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement, in Washington’s latest move to pressure the country’s politicians to form a unity government.
The Treasury Department said Gai arranged and directed the alleged killings of opposition politician Aggrey Idri Ezibon and human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak in a move to solidify his position in the government and intimidate members of the opposition.

6 killed, 3 injured in Ugandan
building collapses
Xinhua. Kampala
Six workers were killed and three others injured after a building under construction collapsed on Wednesday in the Kansanga suburb of the Ugandan capital of Kampala, local police said.
The bodies have been retrieved from the debris and the injured taken to hospital, Patrick Onyango, Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone. A committee has been set up to investigate the cause of the collapse, Onyango said.