A roundup of today's other world news in brief
Stampede at visit of Bugandan king
KAMPALA – At least one person was killed and more than 100 others injured in Uganda when a crowd rushed to glimpse the Bugandan king as he visited royal tombs destroyed in a fire, police and witnesses said on Friday.
The king, Ronald Mutembi, was attending a ceremony to lament the destruction last week of a historic royal mausoleum in the capital. The blaze, whose cause is unknown, was followed by violence, heightening tension between the government and the powerful Bugandan kingdom. A police source said that one person was killed in the crush while 140 were injured, 16 of them seriously. Uganda has four traditional kingdoms with clearly defined boundaries and leaders who are revered by their subjects. – (Reuters)
UN condemns Myanmar violations
GENEVA – The UN Human Rights Council has condemned widespread violations in Myanmar and called on its generals to release 2,100 political prisoners ahead of an election this year, saying the vote must be free and fair.
It adopted by consensus a resolution, presented by the EU, which also extended by one year the mandate of the Council’s special investigator on the former Burma. Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, called for an inquiry into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. – (Reuters)
Poland’s centrists choose candidate
WARSAW – Members of Poland’s centrist ruling party have chosen parliamentary speaker Bronislaw Komorowski as their candidate in a presidential election due this autumn, local media have reported.
Prime minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) is due to announce on Saturday the official result of its weeks-long US-style “primary” election in which about 40,000 party members were eligible to vote.
Poland’s leading daily Gazeta Wyborcza said Mr Komorowski had won 65 per cent of the vote.
– (Reuters)
Pakistani troops kill 34 militants
PAKISTAN – Pakistani troops killed at least 34 militants after about 150 Taliban attacked a military checkpost in the northwest yesterday, challenging government assertions that crackdowns have weakened the group.
Indigenous Taliban rebels are seeking to topple the US-backed government of unpopular president Asif Ali Zardari, who has been pressured to hand over some of his key powers.
A senior military officer and four paramilitary soldiers were also killed in the attack in Orakzai, a day after Pakistani jets killed nearly 50 people, mostly militants, in strikes on a school and a seminary. – (Reuters)