Briefly

NIGERIA

Mass funeral held after tanker explosion kills 86

A mass funeral has been held for the victims of Saturday's gasoline tanker explosion in Nigeria's north-central state of Niger, local authorities said on Sunday, while confirming that the death toll has risen from 80 to 86. A total of 80 bodies were buried in a mass grave in the Gurara local government area after the tanker, laden with gasoline, exploded when it overturned, spilling its contents on a busy road in the Dikko area of the state on Saturday morning, Abdullahi Baba-Arah, head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, told reporters on Sunday. A further 55 people were injured.

UNITED STATES

Biden pardons late civil rights leader Garvey

US President Joe Biden pardoned five people on Sunday, including the late civil rights leader Marcus Garvey, the White House said in a statement. Garvey, who died in 1940, was a civil rights leader who was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and sentenced to five years imprisonment, a sentence that was commuted by president Calvin Coolidge in 1927. Human rights organizations credit Garvey as the first man to organize a mass movement among African Americans. The White House said he created the Black Star Line shipping company and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, which celebrated African history and culture.

LA firefighters brace for 'last' strong winds

Exhausted Los Angeles firefighters on Sunday braced for the return of yet more dangerously strong gusts, after wildfires killed 27 people. The two largest fires, which have obliterated almost 16,000 hectares and razed entire neighborhoods of the second biggest US city, were both now more than half contained, officials announced. However, the National Weather Service warned that powerful winds and very low humidity would again bring "dangerous high-end red flag fire weather conditions" from Monday, with potential gusts of up to 130 kilometers per hour.

Agencies via Xinhua