US key swing state Florida to recount votes in 3 races Washington: Ken Detzner, the secretary of state of Florida, a key swing US state, on Saturday ordered machine recounts for three razor-thin races for governor, US senator and the state’s agriculture commissioner. The results of the recounts are due by 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Thursday, said Detzner, Xinhua news agency reported. Florida’s Republican Governor Rick Scott has seen his lead narrow over incumbent Democratic US Senator Bill Nelson to about 12,500 votes, or 0.15 per cent, by Saturday afternoon, according to a CNBC report. In the race for governor between former Republican US House Representative Ron DeSantis and Democratic mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum, DeSantis was leading by 0.41 percentage points. Gillum conceded to DeSantis on Tuesday night, but later said every vote should count. A third statewide race to be recounted is the agriculture commissioner race between Democrat Nikki Fried and Republican Matt Caldwell. Fried currently held only a 5,326-vote lead, a margin of 0.07 per cent. Florida law requires a machine recount when the leading candidate’s margin is 0.5 percentage points or less, and a hand recount if it’s 0.25 or less. Florida has been seen as a key swing state for decades and is expected to play a critical role in the 2020 US general elections. Death toll climbs to 58 from car bombings in Somali capital Mogadishu: Somali medical sources on Sunday increased the death toll to 58 people killed by last week’s car bombings in the capital Mogadishu, which injured over 100. Mohamed Abshir of the Aamin ambulance service told Efe news that most victims from Friday’s attack died in hospital and 21 people were killed at the scene. The Somali militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, in which two car bombs were detonated in front of the upscale Sahafi Hotel at around 4 p.m. local time, followed 20 minutes later by a third bomb in a car in the Hayat Hotel’s adjacent parking lot. The explosions took place at rush hour on one of the busiest intersections in the Somali capital near the Central Investigation Department headquarters as well as a checkpoint for an entrance to Mogadishu International Airport. Al-Shabab, a local Islamist group that controls territory in rural central and southern Somalia, has launched frequent attacks of this type, including two separate bomb attacks against government buildings in the Somali capital in September that killed at least 14. 7 killed in Indonesia landslides Jakarta: Seven people were killed when landslides struck Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, a disaster management official said on Sunday. Heavy downpours triggered soils of a 100-metre high hill to slide down in Sukamaju village of Gomo sub-district, reports Xinhua news agency. The landslides on Saturday night hit a house where the seven villagers were staying, the official said. To avoid further risks of landslides, authorities have evacuated all those living in the slope of the hill. Turkey shared Khashoggi tapes with Saudi Arabia, US: Erdogan Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said that recordings related to Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death have been passed on to Saudi Arabia, the US, the UK, Germany and France. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a supporter-turned-critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, was killed inside the kingdom consulate in Istanbul on October 2 when he went there for paperwork for his forthcoming marriage. Speaking before his departure for Paris for World War I commemorations, Erdogan said: “We passed on the recordings. We gave them to Saudi Arabia, to America, to the Germans, French and the English -- we gave them all.” However, he did not elaborate on what was in the recordings. “They listened to the conversations which took place here, they know”, he said. No other country admitted hearing the said recording. Erdogan said the killer, or killers, would be known to the 18 suspects identified by Turkish authorities -- including 15 men who arrived from Saudi Arabia shortly before Khashoggi’s death. He again called on Saudi Arabia to provide answers as to what happened to Khashoggi and his body. Iran urges global condemnation of US sanctions Tehran: Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations urged global condemnation of the US unilateral sanctions against the Islamic republic, the media reported on Saturday. “The US unilateral withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal and restoration of its sanctions on Iran is a challenge to the international law and global order,” Gholamali Khoshroo said in a letter to the U N Security Council on Friday. The global community “should not allow the US to pursue its unilateral, arrogant and self-centred policy,” he was cited as saying by Press TV. Washington withdrew from Iran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal in May and imposed a second batch of sanctions against Tehran, targeting its shipping, financial and energy sectors. UN chief concerned over dissolution of Sri Lanka Parliament United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern over the Sri Lankan President dissolving parliament and calling for snap elections for January 5, 2019. On Friday night, President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved parliament and called for the elections, plunging Sri Lanka deeper into a political crisis triggered by the break-up of the ruling alliance and the removal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, reports Efe news. Guterres “underlines the utmost importance of respecting democratic processes and institutions and resolving differences in accordance with the rule of law and due process”, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, said in a statement on Saturday. Guterres called on the government of the island nation to ensure the peace and security for its citizens, as well as uphold human rights and justice. Sirisena dissolved the legislature after Rajapaksa was unable to garner enough support ahead of the resumption of parliament on November 14. The move was rejected by the United National Party, led by Wickremesinghe, who had repeatedly claimed he had enough support in the legislature and that his removal was unconstitutional.
