AUSTRIA: Authorities found 53 people apparently headed for Germany crammed into a small lorry when was stopped in the city of Linz yesterday.

Four men were in the cab of the vehicle, one of whom fled on foot after getting out, police said. He was arrested, as were three others, on suspicion of people-smuggling.

PALESTINE: Ezzedin Kanan has died of his wounds a month after being shot during an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank, the WAFA news agency reported on Saturday.

It said that Mr Kanan, from the town of Jaba, near Jenin, had been shot in the head on July 3 during an intense Israeli raid.

GREECE: More than 600 firefighters, including reinforcements from several other European countries, backed by a fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters, battled three major wildfires yesterday, two of which have been raging for days.

A massive blaze in the north-eastern regions of Evros and Alexandroupolis, which is believed to have caused 20 deaths, was burning for a ninth day.

MYANMAR: The military government has ordered East Timor’s senior diplomat to leave the country by September 1 in retaliation for Dili holding meetings with Myanmar’s main opposition organisation, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

A statement said that East Timor has conducted engagements with Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government, which has viewed itself as the legitimate administration since the military seized power on February 1 2021 from then premier Aung San Suu Kyi.