MINSK, Belarus — Eleven U.S. diplomats left Belarus on Saturday after being declared persona non grata amid escalating diplomatic tensions between Washington and the ex-Soviet nation, an embassy official said. Belarus on Wednesday had ordered 10 of the embassy’s 11 diplomats to leave the country, giving them 72 hours to comply. Washington is one of the fiercest critics of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and is pressuring Belarus to release political prisoners or face punitive sanctions. The departures leave the embassy with just four U.S. staffers.
Myanmar: Cyclone hits Yangon
A tropical cyclone packing 120-mph winds ripped through Yangon early Saturday, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and knocking out electricity in much of the country’s commercial capital, an official said. The meteorology department official said he expects deaths and injuries from Saturday’s storm, which passed through the city about 5 a.m. local time. “The cyclone wreaked havoc in Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta town of Bassein,” he said. “The damage will be extensive as the cyclone passed through many densely populated areas.”
Malaysia: Country plans food stockpile
The Malaysian government will delay nonessential public projects and use the money instead to build up food stockpiles amid a global food crisis, the prime minister said Saturday. If measures are not taken now “it will be difficult later,” he said. He said a $1.3 billion plan announced recently to guarantee food supplies can be funded adequately only if money is diverted from other public projects. The surge in rice prices has come amid poor weather in some rice-producing nations and demand that has outstripped supply.
India: Fire destroys chili market
A fire broke out at one of India’s largest chili markets, burning hundreds of thousands of pounds of chili peppers. Residents and officials say the burning chili smoke is stinging the eyes and throats of people in Guntur in the state of Andhra Pradesh. One local official says 150,000 bags of chilies have been destroyed across a 50-acre area in Saturday’s blaze. No causalities have been reported.
Honduras: 18 inmates die in attack
A Honduran police official says at least 18 inmates have died in a prison attack. A Security Ministry spokesman said 31 prisoners were attacked by their cellmates with knives and guns just hours after they were transferred Friday night to a prison in Tegucigalpa from San Pedro Sula. The prisoners fought back, engaging in a bloody battle. Thirteen survived. Police are investigating a motive for the attack.
Greece: Pot protest gets feisty
Police fired tear gas to clear scores of youths during clashes outside a pro-marijuana festival in Athens on Saturday. Officers moved in as youths set fire to tires and blocked a busy road outside a university campus. The two-day festival at the Agricultural University of Athens is part of an annual international campaign this weekend to promote the legalization of cannabis. It is illegal to grow or smoke marijuana in Greece although its use is widespread.
Louisiana: Democrat wins seat
Democrat Don Cazayoux has won a special congressional election, bolstering his party’s majority status on Capitol Hill and taking a seat held by Republicans since 1974. Cazayoux, a state lawmaker, beat Republican Woody Jenkins to cap a campaign that drew attention and cash from the national parties and from interest groups in Washington. The seat opened when Republican Richard Baker, a 20-year incumbent, resigned to take a lobbying job. With all precincts reporting, Cazayoux had 49 percent to 46 percent for Jenkins, a community newspaper publisher. Independents took over 4 percent of the vote.
Texas: Warrant on sect member dropped
An arrest warrant has been dropped for a man thought to be the husband of a teenage girl whose report of abuse triggered a raid on a polygamous sect’s Texas compound, authorities said Friday. A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman would not say why the warrant was dropped for Dale Barlow, 50, who lives in Colorado City, Ariz. Barlow has denied knowing the 16-year-old girl who called a crisis center. Authorities have not located the 16-year-old girl and are investigating the source of the call.
New Mexico: Fire burns 59 homes
Authorities have confirmed a total of nearly 60 homes burned after a human-caused fire jumped containment lines in New Mexico. A Forest Service spokesman said authorities surveyed the damage in the Manzano Mountains and released the figure Saturday. Nine homes burned earlier, but authorities couldn’t confirm until now that an additional 50 burned on Wednesday. No injuries have been reported. The fire has burned 21 square miles since it started April 15. It was nearly contained before it jumped containment lines and spread.
From Herald news services
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