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2 activists detained in protester crackdown

MANAGUA — A Nicaraguan human rights group says two activists were forced off a plane for questioning by government officials in Managua amid rising tensions and detentions of dozens of anti-government protesters.

The non-governmental Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights said Sunday that indigenous rights advocate Lottie Cunningham was later allowed to board her flight out of the country but activist Haydee Castillo was taken to El Chipote prison for unknown reasons.

The detentions came just hours after police arrested 38 people at an anti-government protest that was broken up with tear gas. The government prohibited opposition protests several weeks ago.

More than 300 people have been killed since protests erupted in April calling for the resignation of President Daniel Ortega. Ortega said Saturday that those who continue to protest are “blood-thirsty.”

Switzerland

1 dead, 14 injured in highway bus crash

A German bus crashed into a metal post on a highway in southern Switzerland Sunday, leaving one woman dead and another 14 people injured, police said.

The bus was heading south with 25 people on board when the accident happened on the A2 highway at Sigirino, near Lugano — along a major route across the Alps from northern Europe to Italy.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the bus to plow into the post, wrecking the front of the vehicle.

The bus had set off from the German city of Cologne on Saturday evening and was headed for Assisi in Italy, Johannes Huebner of bus travel group RDA.

Israel

Court halts American student’s deportation

JERUSALEM — Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday agreed to hear the appeal of an American graduate student who is fighting an expulsion order over her involvement in the boycott movement against Israel.

Lara Alqasem has been held in detention since arriving in the country on Oct. 2 with a valid student visa. She will be allowed to remain in the country pending the Supreme Court appeal, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, her lawyer Leora Bechor said.

Alqasem, 22, turned to the high court after a lower court rejected her appeal to remain in Israel on Friday.

Israel says the Florida native, a former boycott activist at the University of Florida, continues to promote the boycott movement against Israel. She has argued that she is no longer active.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his government’s handling of the case, saying every country has the right to decide who enters its borders.

India

Minister says #MeToo accusations untrue

NEW DELHI — India’s junior external affairs minister on Sunday denied any wrongdoing after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct when he was a newspaper editor.

M.J. Akbar threatened to take legal action against the women, calling the allegations “false, baseless and wild” in a statement.

It’s the first time Akbar has reacted publicly to the string of accusations against him amid calls from journalists and opposition politicians for him to resign.

“The allegations of misconduct made against me are false and fabricated, spiced up by innuendo and malice,” Akbar said in the statement.

Since last month, several Indian actresses and writers have taken to social media with allegations of sexual harassment and assault by their superiors and colleagues, mainly at workplaces. They have also increasingly expressed frustration with an anti-harassment law that has been lauded internationally but has done little to change the status quo in the world’s largest democracy.