Hungary to detain migrants at border

BUDAPEST • Hungary approved plans yesterday to detain migrants in camps on its border, a step which the United Nations said violates European Union law and will have a "terrible physical and psychological impact" on asylum-seekers.

The measures will also tighten controls on Hungary's border, which has been a focal point of Europe's migration crisis since 2015.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country has to act to defend itself and described the influx of migrants as a "Trojan horse for terrorism".

REUTERS

Tropical cyclone rocks Madagascar

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar • Tropical cyclone Enawo struck Madagascar yesterday, buffeting the island with powerful winds, heavy rain and high seas and threatening to cause chaos in the capital.

With gales of up to 290km an hour already recorded, the head of the weather service said the entire north of the island nation, 400km east of mainland Africa, is on "red alert".

Reports of injuries or damage were not immediately available.

The island's north is particularly exposed to extreme weather systems and residents in Enawo's path have been advised to evacuate low-lying areas, seek shelter and stock up on food and water.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Somalia needs $1.1b in famine aid: UN chief

MOGADISHU• Somalia needs more than US$800 million (S$1.1 billion) in aid to avert famine following a drought that has left three million people going hungry, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said yesterday.

He made the appeal in Somalia's capital, where he also met new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

Somalia is facing its third famine in the 25 years that it has been embroiled in civil war and anarchy.

A 2011 famine left 260,000 people dead.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE