News In Brief
AFP, Roseau
Tropical Storm Erika left at least 20 people dead when it swept over the tiny island nation of Dominica, officials reported, as the system barreled through the Caribbean.
While crews rushed to search for survivors and clean up scenes of chaos on Caribbean islands, Haitian authorities issued travel restrictions and opened emergency shelters ahead of the storm’s arrival.
The US state of Florida declared a state of emergency and Cuba issued an alert as well, as the storm, which is forecast to weaken on Saturday, rolled towards them.
Bangkok bombing suspect arrested
Reuters, Bangkok
Police hunting for the perpetrators of Thailand’s deadliest bombing arrested a suspect on Saturday they said fit the description of a man identified on security cameras as leaving a rucksack at the site of the August 17 blast in Bangkok.
Police raided an apartment used by the man in northern Bangkok on Saturday and discovered possible bomb-making materials, national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said.
Boko Haram kills 28 in Nigeria
AP, Bauchi
Boko Haram extremists killed 28 people during attacks on remote farming and fishing villages in northeast Nigeria, members of a civilian defence group said on Friday.
A total of 24 people were killed in an attack on Tuesday night in Marfunudi, according to village resident Abubakar Jojo. The town is roughly 50 miles from the Borno state capital of Maiduguri.
Ceasefire breaks down in Syria
Reuters, Beirut
A ceasefire in a Syrian town near the Lebanese border and two villages to the north has broken down after renewed shelling, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Saturday.
The truce between the Syrian army and the Lebanese group Hezbollah on the one side, and Syrian insurgents on the other, came into effect in the western town of Zabadani and the Shi’ite Muslim villages of Kefraya and al-Foua in the northwest on Thursday.
