Pistorius must pay: Girlfriend's dad

PRETORIA • Miss Reeva Steenkamp's father, Mr Barry Steenkamp, broke down in court yesterday as he told a dramatic sentencing hearing that Oscar Pistorius must "pay for his crime" of murdering his daughter three years ago.

The Paralympic athlete killed Ms Steenkamp, who was his girlfriend, in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013. He said he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Bahrain suspends opposition party

DUBAI • A Bahraini court suspended the main opposition Al-Wefaq group pending a verdict on dissolving it altogether, the justice ministry said, accusing the Shi'ite bloc of breaking the law.

The court also ordered the closure of Al-Wefaq's offices and froze its funds, the ministry said in a statement on the official Bahrain News Agency.

Al-Wefaq draws most of its support from the Shi'ite majority in the Sunni-ruled nation.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Refugees warned against polygamy

BERLIN • Germany will not recognise polygamy or marriages involving minors, its justice minister said, as concern rises over such cases amid a record influx of refugees, many from Muslim countries.

"No one who comes here has the right to put his cultural values or religious beliefs above our law," said Justice Minister Heiko Maas in an interview with Bild daily.

Under Islamic law, men are allowed to take up to four wives.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Aussie rodent victim of climate change?

SYDNEY • Climate change appears to have driven to extinction an Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent, according to a new study, which suggests the species may be the first mammal lost to the global phenomenon. Extensive searches for the Bramble Cay melomys, a small rat-like animal, have failed to find a single specimen from its only known habitat on a sandy island in far northern Australia. Researchers said the key factor behind the extinction was "almost certainly" ocean inundation.

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