Dozens die in South Asia flash floods

DHAKA/GUWAHATI (India) • Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed dozens of people and displaced more than one million, mostly in north-east India and Bangladesh, the authorities said yesterday.

The Brahmaputra River, which flows from the Himalayas down to India and then through Bangladesh, has burst its banks, swamping more than 1,500 villages in India's Assam state in the past week. The floods have killed nearly 20 people and displaced about 800,000 in the Indian states of Assam, Tripura and Manipur.

In Bangladesh, 11 people have been killed and more than 250,000 have been displaced or affected, officials said.

REUTERS

China to limit more solid waste imports

BEIJING • China will further tighten limits on solid waste imports such as paper, plastics, scrap steel and copper, and crack down on smuggling, its Environment Minister said yesterday as part of the government's "war on pollution". China has tightened its list of solid waste imports three times in the past year and will cut permitted waste imports to 18 types by the end of 2019 from 66 in 2017.

REUTERS

Manila court's first gay marriage case

MANILA • The Philippines' top court heard arguments yesterday for the legalisation of gay marriage, a historic first in the overwhelmingly Catholic nation.

Two same-sex couples denied licences to wed urged the Supreme Court to strike down a 1987 law that states marriage must be between a man and a woman. It took three years for the Supreme Court to schedule a hearing and the case will likely move at a glacial pace. Judges will next hear from the government's lawyers, but the court does not set itself deadlines to issue rulings.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE