Sarmila Dharmalingam is praying for a miracle. Her brother, Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, is set to be hanged in Singapore’s Changi Prison. “When I’m alone and I think of my brother, there is pain. But [we need to] be brave and keep on praying – anything can happen,” she told the BBC. In 2009, then 21-year-old Nagaenthran was caught trying to smuggle heroin into Singapore from Malaysia. Nagaenthran was initially due to be hanged on Wednesday morning, but was granted a last-minute stay of execution. On Tuesday he was found to have Covid-19 and the execution was further delayed. The Malaysian citizen was sentenced to death despite an assessment by a medical expert that he has an IQ of 69 – a level recognised as indicating an intellectual disability. But the Singapore government said he “clearly understood the nature of his acts and did not lose his sense of judgment of the rightness or wrongness of what he was doing”.(BBC)…[+]

A teenager who went missing in the US has been found after she used hand signals that went viral on TikTok to show she was in danger. The girl had been reported missing by her parents in North Carolina on Tuesday morning, and was spotted inside a car in Kentucky two days later. The 16-year-old used the gesture designed to help domestic abuse victims ask for help to alert a passing driver. Authorities say they arrested a 61-year-old man. A driver called police after noticing “a female passenger in the vehicle making hand gestures that are known on the social media platform TikTok to represent violence at home – I need help – domestic violence,” the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.(BBC)…[+]

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, in prison for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, may soon meet her parents as part of the process leading to parole being considered, officials say. He is eligible for possible release after having served half his sentence. But he first has to take part in what is called “restorative justice”. Pistorius shot Steenkamp dead in 2013 saying he mistook her for a burglar at his home in the capital, Pretoria. The 34-year-old fired four times through a locked toilet door. In 2014, at the conclusion of a trial that was followed around the world, he was given a five-year term for manslaughter. But Pistorius was found guilty of murder on appeal in 2015 and the sentence was later increased to 13 years and five months.(BBC)…[+]

This is a country which is starting to feel the very real fear of hunger.The weather is turning from early autumn warmth to a sharp chill. Several areas are reporting drought, which adds to the sense of growing catastrophe. At Maidan Wardak, 50 miles west of Kabul, a crowd of several hundred men had gathered in the hope of getting flour from an official distribution point. The flour was provided by the World Food Programme. Taliban soldiers kept the crowd reasonably quiet, but people who were told they weren’t eligible for a hand-out were angry and frightened. “The winter is nearly here,” said one old man. “I don’t know how I’ll get through it if I can’t make bread.” The WFP is faced with having to raise its supplies to Afghanistan to help more than 22 million people. If the weather is as bad as experts are predicting this winter, the expectation is that large numbers will be threatened with acute hunger and widespread famine.(BBC)…[+]

Libya’s presidential council says it has suspended Foreign Minister Najla El-Mangoush for 14 days and banned her from travelling, pending an inquiry. It accused her of not co-ordinating on foreign policy, but the transitional government rejected the decision, saying she would carry on as normal. The political infighting follows comments she made in a BBC interview about the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. Libya admitted responsibility for the bombing in 2003. Controversy ignited here after the minister spoke to the BBC about the possible extradition of a new Libyan suspect wanted by the US over the bombing. The downing of the plane – in which 270 people were killed – remains a sensitive subject here, and a painful one in the US and Britain. Najla El-Mangoush told us that the Libyan government was very open to collaborating with the US on the question of extradition, and said the matter was progressing. “We understand the pain and sadness of the victims and the families,” she said. The move to suspend – and ground – the top diplomat comes ahead of a major international conference on Libya in Paris next Friday. It also comes as Libya is moving uncertainly towards nationwide elections, due in late December. This kind of dispute between institutions of state is not new in Libya, far from it.(BBC)…[+]

The US Navy has launched a ship named after a gay rights activist forced to resign from the service because of his sexuality in the 1950s. The USNS Harvey Milk was launched in San Diego on Saturday in a service attended by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Milk’s nephew, Stuart. It is one of six new ships to be named after famed US civil rights leaders. Others include former Chief Justice Earl Warren and slain presidential candidate Robert Kennedy. Milk served as a diving officer and Lieutenant aboard the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake during the Korean War. But he was forced out of the service following two weeks of interrogation about his sexuality in 1955. He later became one of America’s first openly gay politicians, elected in 1977 to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. But a year later he was shot and killed by Dan White, a former city supervisor with whom he had frequently clashed.(BBC)…[+]

The US is reopening its borders on Monday to double-jabbed foreign visitors, ending a 20-month entry ban. The ban was imposed by former President Donald Trump due to Covid-19. It has affected non-US citizens from over 30 countries, including the UK and EU states, separating families and stalling tourism. Airlines are expecting a flood of visitors as the restrictions are lifted for those who are fully vaccinated, and undergo testing and contact tracing. “It feels good, it feels good!” Jerome Thomann, head of Paris-based travel agency Jetset Voyages told Reuters news agency, saying his team had seen an “incredible upturn” in bookings. In an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus, US borders were initially closed to travellers from China in early 2020. The restrictions were then extended to other countries.(BBC)…[+]

A pill to treat Covid developed by the US company Pfizer cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by 89% in vulnerable adults, clinical trial results suggest. The drug – Paxlovid – is intended for use soon after symptoms develop in people at high risk of severe disease. It comes a day after the UK medicines regulator approved a similar treatment from Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD). Pfizer says it stopped trials early as the initial results were so positive. The UK has already ordered 250,000 courses of the new Pfizer treatment, which has not yet been approved, along with another 480,000 courses of MSD’s molnupiravir pill. Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid called the results “incredible”, and said the UK’s medicines regulator would now assess its safety and effectiveness. “If approved, this could be another significant weapon in our armoury to fight the virus alongside our vaccines and other treatments,” he said. The Pfizer drug, known as a protease inhibitor, is designed to block an enzyme the virus needs in order to multiply. When taken alongside a low dose of another antiviral pill called ritonavir, it stays in the body for longer.(BBC)…[+]

A Russian diplomat was found dead last month outside the country’s embassy in the German capital, it has emerged. The man’s body was discovered on the pavement on 19 October by police guarding the Berlin compound, Der Spiegel website reported. He had apparently fallen from an upper floor, but it was unclear how, it added. Russia’s embassy called the death of the diplomat – who has not been officially named – a “tragic accident”. Germany’s foreign ministry confirmed the man’s death but would not give further details. Police in Berlin have not publicly commented on the death, which was reported for the first time on Friday. Reports say the man was 35 years old and was listed as a second secretary of the Russian embassy.(BBC)…[+]

Ethiopia’s military has called on former soldiers to re-join the army, as it battles to hold off a rebel advance. The appeal comes as rebel forces – spearheaded by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – make advances towards the capital, Addis Ababa. The US embassy has told all US citizens to leave Ethiopia as soon as possible amid a “very fluid” security situation. Hours earlier, nine anti-government groups forged an alliance to dismantle PM Abiy Ahmed’s administration. The government has said it will continue to fight what it calls an existential war. The conflict has entered its second year, with millions displaced and more than 400,000 on the brink of famine. This week, government officials declared a state of emergency, and called on residents to register their weapons, telling them to get ready to protect their neighbourhoods. Ethiopia’s international partners have called for an end to the hostilities. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss urged both sides to agree a ceasefire in a call with Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister on Friday.(BBC)…[+]