A round-up of today's world news stories in brief
Floods and mudslides kill 13 in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE – Floods and mudslides killed at least 13 people in Haiti over the weekend, raising fears about the vulnerability of survivors of the earthquake.
Haiti’s civil protection agency said four people died when floodwaters triggered by torrential rains swept through Les Cayes, a port and the country’s third-largest city located on the southern coast about 160km west of the capital Port-au-Prince.
“At one point, people had to climb on the roofs of their homes . . . Les Cayes was flooded by more than 60 per cent,” Joseph Yves-Marie Aubourg, the government’s representative in the region, said. – (Reuters)
Ripper seeks sentence review
LONDON – The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, is seeking a high court ruling to determine how much longer he must serve in jail. Sutcliffe was given 20 life terms in 1981 for murdering 13 women and attacking seven others. The 63-year-old is now asking the court to grant him a finite sentence.
Sutcliffe, who is held in Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital in southern England, would then have to persuade the mental health review tribunal that he no longer posed a risk before being eligible to apply for parole. – (Guardian service)
Two charged over 2003 Turkish coup
ISTANBUL – Two military officers were charged at the weekend over a coup plot, Turkish media said, but investor jitters over a showdown between the secular armed forces and Islamist-rooted government appeared to ease.
A total of more than 30 officers, including two retired generals, face charges in connection with an alleged plot in 2003 to overthrow Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Turkey wants to strengthen its democratic credentials to support its bid to join the European Union. – (Reuters)