World Tour: Zimbabwe’s president reelected

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Nigeria, Onize Ohikere.

AUDIO: [Singing/cheering]

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: Zimbabwe elections — We start today with cheering supporters in Zimbabwe, where President Emmerson Mnangagwa has secured a second term in office.

Electoral officials say Mnangagwa won 52 percent of the vote, defeating his main challenger Nelson Chamisa by more than seven percentage points.

MNANGAGWA: I’m humbled by the trust and confidence that you, my fellow countrymen and women, have reposed on me to once again serve as president of our great country, Zimbabwe.

Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF party has ruled Zimbabwe since the country regained its independence in 1980.

Opposition leader Chamisa rejected the outcome as a sham.

CHAMISA: There is going to be change in Zimbabwe, whether Zanu-PF people want it or not. It's not going to be easy but there shall be change.

Foreign monitors said the vote did not conform to regional and international standards. They listed concerns about voter intimidation, banned opposition rallies, and biased media coverage. Police also arrested 41 local poll workers, accusing them of criminal and subversive activities.

AUDIO: [Protesters yelling]

Haiti protest — We head next to protests in Haiti where a gang killed at least seven people.

Residents said a pastor led church members—armed with machetes—on a Saturday march through a gang-ridden community outside of Port-au-Prince. The group was protesting gang violence. Gang members opened fire on them.

PROTESTER: [Speaking Creole]

This protester who attended the march said the pastor told his followers they were bulletproof and those who were injured had no faith.

More than 2,400 people have died in Haiti in the first eight months of the year, according to the UN.

AUDIO: [Boat ride]

Italy migrant arrivals — We head over to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has seen a record number of migrant arrivals.

More than 4,000 migrants docked over the weekend. Many of them had set off from the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax.

Emanuele Ricifari is the provincial police chief of the area.

RICIFARI: [Speaking Italian]

He says here that authorities are coping with the surge. They transferred the migrants to facilities in other cities.

Italy is a major arrival route for migrants and asylum seekers arriving in Europe. More than 105,000 people have arrived by sea this year.

AUDIO: [Crowds]

Afghanistan passport — In Afghanistan, thousands of people have crowded outside the passport office in the western city of Herat.

That’s after authorities said last week they increased the number of passports issued daily from at least 150 to more than a thousand.

RESIDENT: [Speaking Dari]

This Herat resident says the crowds are too big, leaving people stuck in queues.

The Taliban gained full control of Afghanistan two years ago, after the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

They have closed most girls’ secondary schools and stopped women from working with aid groups. The acting minister of vice and virtue banned women from visiting one of the country’s most popular national parks after complaining women did not properly wear their hijabs.

AUDIO: [Sound of hunters at lake]

Loch Ness search — We close today in Scotland, where Nessie hunters wrapped up the biggest search for the Loch Ness Monster in five decades.

Mystery hunters from around the world began gathering on the Scottish lake over the weekend to track down the monster.

During the two-day event, searchers used drones with thermal scanners, boats with infrared cameras, and an underwater hydrophone that could detect sounds.

Some people also signed up to monitor a live stream of the lake.

Paul Nixon is the Loch Ness Centre general manager.

NIXON: Somebody somewhere in every corner of the globe is watching the webcams or involved in this project this weekend.

The participants include Christie McLeod, who joined the search from Canada.

MCLEOD: I have been hunting Nessie for nine years. This will be my seventh tour on the loch. My first official hunt.

The Loch Ness center organized the quest with a volunteer research team. Tales of a monster lurking in Loch Ness date back to ancient times, with stone carvings in the area showing a mysterious beast with flippers.

Some participants said they heard strange sounds, but they found nothing conclusive.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Ohikere in Abuja, Nigeria.

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