Shanmugam ends Jordan trip
AMMAN (Jordan) • Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law K. Shanmugam met Jordanian King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein on a two-day working visit to the Hashemite Kingdom that ended yesterday, a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) press statement said.
During their talks, Mr Shanmugam and King Abdullah exchanged views on the threat posed by terrorism and its impact on global peace and security.
The discussions were held on the sidelines of the Aqaba Meetings, hosted in the kingdom's Red Sea port city of Aqaba, which aim to enhance global coordination and efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism. Mr Shanmugam also met Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on his visit, with both sides reaffirming their countries' close and longstanding relations.
Lebanon elections kick off in Australia
SYDNEY • Voting in Lebanon's first parliamentary polls in almost a decade kicked off in Australia yesterday, with thousands of people casting their ballots in the historic election. Some 12,000 members of Australia's Lebanese community are registered to vote, Lebanon's embassy in Canberra said, a week before the May 6 election.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Londoners warned of caterpillar invasion
NEW YORK • British forestry officials are warning parts of London about an invasion of caterpillars whose long white hairs can trigger allergic reactions in humans that include skin and eye irritation, difficulty breathing and even anaphylactic shock.
Caterpillars of the oak processionary moth were spotted emerging from eggs in mid-April, according to the Forestry Commission.
NYTIMES
Burning Man founder dies after stroke
LOS ANGELES • Mr Larry Harvey, the man who founded the popular Burning Man counter-cultural festival, died last Saturday after suffering a massive stroke in early April, event organisers said. He was 70. Mr Harvey died surrounded by family members at his San Francisco home, the official online Burning Man Journal said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE