Briefly

BURKINA FASO

Nation mourns 79 dead in massacre

Burkina Faso on Tuesday began three days of mourning after 79 people died in one of the bloodiest massacres in a nearly seven-year-old insurgency by armed extremists. While no group claimed the attack, analysts say it was likely carried out by the Islamic State terror group. Extremists killed at least 160 people in an attack in the town of Solhan in June last year.

UNITED KINGDOM

Govt defends migrant deportation policy

The UK government on Tuesday defended its controversial policy to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda, even as the entire senior leadership of the Church of England branded it shameful and immoral. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss insisted the first flight to Kigali would take off no matter how many people were on board, after 23 of the 31 migrants had their tickets canceled. "We're expecting to send the flight later today," she told Sky News, as fresh protests were held at a detention center near London Gatwick Airport. Truss said she was unable to confirm how many people would be on the charter flight to Kigali, which was due to leave from an undisclosed airport on Tuesday night. But she said the policy, which the UN refugee agency has also criticized as "all wrong", was vital to smash the business model of human-trafficking gangs exploiting vulnerable migrants.

SOUTH KOREA

Truckers refuse to back down on strike

South Korean truck drivers staged an eighth day of protests on Tuesday over wages and rising fuel costs, further snarling global supply chains with a strike that officials say has caused more than $1 billion in losses. The industrial action has disrupted shipments and production for the crucial steel, petrochemical and automobile sectors, in an early test for new President Yoon Suk-yeol who has vowed to deal with labor disputes "strictly". But the drivers say they are desperate due to sharp rises in fuel prices－with inflation at its highest level in over a decade.

Agencies - Xinhua