Top stories from DAWNS Digest
Nobel Prize Winner Turned Away at Cairo Airport
A Yemeni woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her role in the Arab Spring protests was blocked from entering Egypt. “Tawakul Karman, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner was turned away on Sunday at Cairo’s Airport on Sunday. Her intention was to join the protest against the military coup that toppled President Mohamed Morsi. Karman was sent back to the United Arab Emirates according to various news accounts. The protest which is lasting two months already, the government said that it will underline it by resolving it in dealing with the protest.” (Guardian Live http://bit.ly/13yP8fw)
Flash Floods Kill 58 in Eastern Afghanistan
It’s flood season in South and Central Asia. “Heavy rains swept across eastern Afghanistan, leveling homes and killing at least 58 people in five provinces, while an estimated 30 others remain missing, officials said Sunday…Rains quickly can weaken the structures of the mud-walled homes that dot the countryside in Afghanistan, causing the buildings to collapse during heavy downpours. In neighboring Pakistan on Saturday, the same storm system brought heavy rains that caused more than 100 homes to collapse and caved in a factory wall, killing at least 14 people.” (AP http://yhoo.it/16VeUcm)
US Diplomatic Posts in 19 Countries Will Remain Closed This Week
The State Department says that it makes sense to keep these posts shut during Eid this week. “The U.S. State Department announced that 19 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa will be closed through Saturday, including a small number of additional posts that were not shuttered today. A news release on the department’s website said the closures were out of an ‘abundance of caution and not an ‘indication of a new threat.’” (Detroit Free Press http://on.freep.com/13yRLOh)