KHARTOUM (Anadolu) – Thousands of supporters of Sudan’s former ruling party demonstrated in the capital Khartoum on Saturday against foreign interference in the country’s internal affairs. Supporters of the National Congress Party (NCP) of ousted President Omar al-Bashir waved banners demanding the expulsion of Volker Perthes, head of the United Nations’ Integrated Transition Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS). “We are protesting against conspiracies that target Islamic parties in Sudan,” Ismail Mahmoud, 56, told Anadolu Agency. “Sudan will never be ruled by secular laws as long as we are alive,” he said. “We are also demonstrating to maintain Sudan’s national sovereignty against foreign interference and the new colonialism represented by UNITAMS envoy Volker Perthes” Mahmoud added. Sudan’s ruling military and the opposition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition have been undergoing talks under the auspices of UNITAMS to reach an agreement to resolve the country’s months-long political crisis. The QUAD mechanism, which includes the U.S., UK, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is also pressuring Sudan’s rivals to reach a political deal to bring the country back to transition.

***
LONDON (AP) – The head of Britain’s Royal Navy said he is “deeply disturbed” by reports that female submariners were bullied and sexually harassed and has ordered an investigation. The Daily Mail newspaper carried claims Saturday by former Navy Lt. Sophie Brook that she faced “a constant campaign of sexual bullying” as well as physical assaults. She said male crew members on submarines were “like vultures whenever a new female would come in.” Brook alleged the men kept a “crush depth rape list” ranking female colleagues in the order they should be raped in the case of a catastrophic event. Brook, 30, left the Royal Navy earlier this year and was later given a suspended jail sentence for sharing in an email sensitive information about her submarine’s movement. The newspaper quoted another, anonymous, navy whistleblower as saying women were constantly pestered for sex aboard submarines. Women make up about 10% of full-time Royal Navy personnel and have been eligible to serve on submarines since 2011. The Ministry of Defense did not comment on specific allegations but said it accepted that more needs to be done about inappropriate behavior. It said it is improving reporting mechanisms for sexual offenses.

***
BRASILIA (AFP) – Incumbent Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his left-wing challenger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have faced off in their final televised debate ahead of Sunday’s tense run-off vote. Polls suggest Lula is the slight favorite to come back for a third term, capping a remarkable political renaissance after his jailing on corruption convictions that were overturned. But Bolsonaro outperformed opinion polls in the first-round vote this month, and many analysts say the election could go either way. During Friday’s free-wheeling debate, the deeply polarizing figures attacked each other’s character and record, accused each other of lying and refused repeatedly to answer each other’s questions. “Brazilians know who the liar is,” said Lula, as the two locked horns over minimum wages and the left-wing politician’s history of corruption allegations. “Stop lying Lula, stop lying. It’s getting ugly,” said Bolsonaro. Lula, who served as president between 2003 and 2010, also highlighted that Bolsonaro’s government has not yet provided an increase to the minimum wage above inflation.

***
PITTSBURGH (Dispatches) – Six people have been injured in a shooting outside a church in Pittsburgh, the United States, where a funeral was underway. Pittsburgh Police Commander Richard Ford said at a news conference shortly after the shooting that the incident was “obviously… a targeted shooting.” Ford said “multiple” shooters had been involved but did not provide further information. According to Fox News, the funeral at the Destiny of Faith Church was for a man who had himself been killed in a shooting in the city earlier this month. Of the six victims, one was said to have initially been in critical condition but was later confirmed to be in stable condition. Two “people of interest” were detained on Friday night, CNN cited police as saying, but they were not identified. An investigation was underway, and police have asked the public to provide any helpful information. Shootings are common in the United States, where people have easy access to firearms, including military-grade assault weapons.

***
MANILA (AFP) – Severe Tropical Storm Nalgae slammed into the Philippines on Saturday, after unleashing flash floods and landslides that left at least 72 people dead, officials said. Nalgae pounded the archipelago nation’s main island of Luzon with maximum winds of 95 kilometers an hour after making landfall on the sparsely populated Catanduanes island before dawn. Heavy rains triggered by the approaching storm began Thursday in the southern Philippines, the state weather service said, inundating mostly rural areas on Mindanao island. That was followed by landslides and flooding, with fast-moving, debris-laden waters sweeping away entire families in some areas and damaging nearly 500 houses. By Saturday morning, the death toll had risen to 72, said the country’s civil defence director, Rafaelito Alejandro. At least 14 people were still missing and 33 were injured, he added. In recent years, flash floods with mud and debris from largely deforested mountainsides have been among the deadliest hazards posed by typhoons in the Philippines.

***
HONG KONG (Al Jazeera) – Hong Kong has made its biggest-ever seizure of methamphetamine after uncovering a shipment arriving from Mexico worth about 1.1 billion Hong Kong dollars ($140mn), authorities said on Saturday. Customs officials found a record-breaking 1.8 tonnes of liquid meth hidden in cartons of coconut water en route to Australia. The shipment, which officials said likely involved a massive international drug trafficking ring, comes as the Chinese financial hub sees a rise in drug busts involving meth. “We believe the liquid meth, of high purity, came from South America. It was packaged there and shipped via a convoluted route to Hong Kong, to be sent to Australia,” said senior superintendent Lee Ka-ming, head of the drug investigation bureau at Hong Kong customs.