BBC News with Joe Macintosh.
More than 6 hundred migrants have arrived in the Indonesian province of Aceh after being rescued by local fishing boats when their vessel sank nearby. Reports say another boat was turned back from Indonesian waters by the navy. Those on board are among thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants who spent weeks at sea. One vessel which the BBC visited in Thai waters on Thursday has now moved on, as Jonathan Head reports from Southern Thailand.
After some wavering by the Thai government, with the fate of the stranded boat, it now appears to have now reverted to a hardline stand of pushing it back out to sea. Late last night, armed troops boarded the overcrowded fishing boat and repaired the engine. The crew of the boat had abandoned it a week ago, so the soldier showed some of the passengers how to operate the boat and sent it south, out of Thai waters. One Thai official said it was now headed in the direction of Aceh in Indonesia, a considerable distance over open sea. Its current location is unknown.
President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi is expected to make a national address in the coming hours after declaring he was back in the country, following an attempted coup while he was abroad. An official spokesman told the BBC the president would continue to campaign for a third term in office in next month’s elections. The BBC’s XXX says the president will begin to deal with those involved in the plot.
We do know that the president’s truest spokesman has said that he does not bear any grudges, and that he is in a good mood, and that he is really to forgive any of the soldiers who mutinied if they do surrender themselves. But you also know some of the leaders of the attempted coup have been rounded up and have been already arrested. A statement from the president’s office yesterday had said that all those who have participated in this attempted coup will be pursued and will face justice. And so we expect in the next few days, there will be more arrests being made in the country.
President Obama has told the six gulf states the United State would stand by them in the event of external attack. A joint statement published after they had talks at Camp David made clear that the US would consider using force to help its allies. Mr. Obama outlined some of the issues included in the talks.
We discussed not only the Iranian nuclear deal, and the potential for us to ensure that Iran is not obtaining a nuclear weapon and triggering a nuclear arms race in the region, but we also discussed our concerns about Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region, and pledged cooperation around how we can address those in a cooperative fashion, even as we hope that we can achieve the kind of peace so many of the countries here seek.
This is the World News from the BBC.
The leaders of Greek and Turkish communities in Cyprus are due to restart negotiations on ending 40 years of partition in the island. The United Nations Envoy to Cyprus says momentum towards relaunching the peace process has been growing and the talks representing unique opportunity to resolve one of Europe’s longest running diplomatic disputes.
The National Drugs Council in Columbia has decided to ban the use of the herbicide glyphosate on cocoa plantations. The decision follows a warning from the World Health Organization in March that the product is probably carcinogenic. President Juan Manuel Santos last week recommended that its use be suspended but there are fears that it may lead to a resurgence in the cultivation of cocoa which is used to make cocaine.
Scientists in the United States say they’ve identified the first warm-blooded fish. Research shows that the deep sea opah, or moon fish, is able to keep its entire body including its heart and brains about five degrees warmer than the surrounding water. The author of the research, Dr. Nicholas Wegner said the warmer blood keeps the opah’s brain sharper and its muscles more active, giving it a predatory advantage over its sluggish cold-blooded rivals.
It’s a mid-water fish that lives low below the surface, maybe 50 to 400 meters below the surface, and the water is quite cold down there, and so having a warm body really is advantageous. That allows it to speed up muscle contractions, increase visual temper resolution, and so you have a fish that can swim faster, react faster to stimuli, that’s opposed to its more cold-body prey.
The Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bettel will marry his partner Gauthier Destinay in the most high-profile same sex union since the country’s laws were changed in January. The ceremony is not expected to be a big event. A friend of the couple told the French news agency Mr. Bettle wants to keep his private life out of the public spotlight.