Rohingya refugee plan stalled till 2019

COX'S BAZAR (Bangladesh) • Plans to tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis have been stalled until the new year, Bangladesh's refugee relief and repatriation commissioner Abul Kalam said yesterday.

The repatriation of the first batch of 2,200 refugees was to begin officially on Nov 15, but it stalled amid protests at the refugee camps.

REUTERS

12 dead in Vietnam floods, landslides

HANOI • Flash floods and landslides killed at least 12 people in central Vietnam, officials said yesterday, as hundreds of troops were dispatched to clean up destroyed villages and washed-out roads.

Heavy rain pounded the central Khanh Hoa province over the past few days as tropical depression Toraji blew in from the South China Sea, triggering landslides that wiped out houses and destroyed a small reservoir.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Suspected stingray attack kills man

SYDNEY • A swimmer died after a rare suspected stingray attack off an Australian beach, while another two people were mauled in separate shark encounters last weekend.

The 42-year-old man was in waters off Lauderdale Beach in Tasmania when he "sustained a puncture wound to his lower abdomen... possibly inflicted by a marine animal", police said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE