Aussie govt loses by-elections

SYDNEY • Australia's conservative government failed to win any of five by-elections held at the weekend, defeats widely seen as an indication that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull faces an uphill battle to be re-elected in a national poll due by next May.

In what was coined "Super Saturday", voters in five seats went to the polls after a handful of mainly Labor opposition lawmakers were forced from office after falling foul of the country's Constitution that bans politicians from elected office if they are dual citizens.

The Australian Electoral Commission yesterday said four seats were retained by Labor, and a fifth by the small Centre Alliance party, dealing a blow to Mr Turnbull.

REUTERS

Mali president seeks second term at polls

BAMAKO (Mali) • Mali went to the polls yesterday, with President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita seeking a second five-year term in a country beset by deadly ethnic and extremist violence.

Mr Keita, 73, leads a crowded field of 24 candidates bidding for the presidency which he has held since 2013.

Over 300 civilians have died in ethnic clashes this year, according to United Nations figures and an AFP toll.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Munich airport cancels 200 flights

BERLIN • Around 200 flights had to be cancelled and two terminals evacuated at Munich airport last Saturday after an unidentified person entered a secure area, police and the airport said.

The person - a woman - made it into a secure area of Terminal 2 without being checked and then disappeared without trace despite an extensive search, police said, adding that they did not believe she represented an "extreme danger".

Several thousand people at the airport on a busy weekend of holiday departures had to be evacuated. Sixty flights were also delayed.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE