Briefly

SRI LANKA

Death toll from rat fever reaches 70

Seventy people have died in an outbreak of rat fever in Sri Lanka this year, with more than 6,000 others infected, local media reported on Friday. According to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, the highest numbers of patients have been reported in Ratnapura in south-central Sri Lanka, with more than 1,300 cases. In Kalutara, on the outskirts of the capital Colombo, over 200 people have come down with the fever.

UKRAINE

9 killed as wildfires sweep eastern region

At least nine people have been killed and 10 hospitalized due to fires in the eastern Luhansk region of Ukraine, the State Emergency Service said on Thursday. Some 120 people have been evacuated, the agency said on its website. Two planes and a helicopter were involved in efforts to extinguish the fires that cover about 9,300 hectares, said the head of the Luhansk regional state administration, Sergey Gaidai. About 250 buildings have been damaged in the blazes, Gaidai said.

EGYPT

Statuette of god Nefertum found

An Egyptian archaeological mission unearthed on Thursday a carved statuette of ancient Egyptian god Nefertum at the Saqqara necropolis near the capital Cairo, the Egyptian ministry of tourism and antiquities said in a statement. Found beside recently discovered wooden coffins at the site in Giza Province, the 35-centimeter tall statuette is made of bronze and inlaid with precious stones, red agate, turquoise and lapis lazuli. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and head of the mission, said the statuette dates to a dynasty that ruled Egypt over 2,500 years ago. In the past month, dozens of coffins have been found in a burial shaft at the necropolis.

Xinhua