UN Security Council opens urgent talks on Gaza

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council opened urgent talks on the escalating violence in Gaza to consider ways of stepping up ceasefire efforts.

The 15-member Council met as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was holding talks with leaders in the region amid a spike in violence that left more than 100 Palestinians dead in a single day.

“We have to know from the secretary-general the result of his efforts, his travels and whether there is any hope of moving forward to a ceasefire,” said French Ambassador Gerard Araud as he headed into the meeting.

Thai military detains former prime minister

Thailand's former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and dozens of prominent politicians have been detained by the military a day after it took control of government.Yingluck and Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, her temporary replacement, were among the 39 prominent figures who on Friday reported to a military facility in Bangkok.

More than 20 dead as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam

Hanoi: More than 20 people were killed and rioters attacked Vietnam's biggest steel plant overnight as violent anti-China protests spread to the centre of the country a day after arson and looting in the south, a doctor and newspapers said on Thursday.

A doctor at a hospital in central Ha Tinh province said five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese were killed in the rioting, one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979.

Insurgents launch multiple attacks in Thai south, one dead

BANGKOK: Suspected Muslim separatists in southern Thailand launched a wave of more than 30 attacks on Monday including shootings, bombings and arson, police said, killing one person and injuring more than 10.

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south, in particular the three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, are majority Muslim and decades-old resistance to central government rule resurfaced violently in 2004.

Paradorn Pattanathabutr, a security adviser to the prime minister, said the targets included a shopping mall, which was set on fire, and electricity pylons.

Japan outraged over China's 'longest incursion'

Japan has protested to China over the presence of Chinese coast guard vessels in waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea, in what Tokyo says was China's longest incursion.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday that Japan conveyed its outrage to China and strongly urged an immediate exit of all Chinese vessels in Japanese territory.

Malaysia arrests 10 over bizarre claim on throne

KUALA LUMPUR: Ten people dressed in ninja-style garb have been detained after they arrived at Malaysia's royal palace in a bizarre attempt to claim the throne, police said Tuesday.

The unarmed group, reported by local media to be suspected followers of a Malaysian Muslim figure claiming royal descent, were stopped by police guards in the confrontations early Monday morning at the palace in Kuala Lumpur.

One dead, 6 injured in China bus fire

One person died and six others were injured when a bus caught fire in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The bus caught fire suddenly around 11:30 a.m. Monday in Urumqi, according to rescuers, who added that the injured people were taken to local hospitals, Xinhua reported.

Small bomb hits Buddhist temple in Indonesia; one injured

JAKARTA: Police and government officials on Monday condemned an attack on a Buddhist temple in Indonesia's capital after a small bomb detonated as devotees inside prayed, injuring one person. Two other devices failed to go off.

The explosion happened Sunday night at the Ekayana Grha Buddhist temple in West Jakarta.

The blast went off near the front door of the building, slightly damaging the structure, chief of National Police Detective Lt. Gen. Sutarman told reporters at the scene.

Assam braces for 60-hour bandh as demand for Bodoland gathers steam

Kokrajhar: A 60-hour long Assam Bandh began this morning as the demand for Bodoland state intensifies after the Centre's announcement on Telangana. Road and rail traffic is expected to be severely affected, particularly in lower Assam's Bodo tribe dominated districts.

The bandh is the latest in a series of agitations in the past week, including a rail roko and a massive rally yesterday, pressing for statehood.

JNU student attacks classmate with axe, dies after suicide attempt

In a shocking incident, a 23-year-old student committed suicide after attacking a woman classmate with an axe at Jawaharlal Nehru University on Wednesday.

The incident took place in room no. 213 of the Korean language department around 11.30 a.m.

The attacker was identified as Akash and the woman as 22-year-old Roshani.

Indian shot dead in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur : An ethnic Indian man was gunned down today in Malaysia's Perak state, the latest in a spate of shootings that has shocked the southeast Asian country.

26-year-old N Jeevandran was shot twice on his abdomen, police said.

Batla House encounter: Court to pronounce sentence tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The sentencing of Batla House encounter convict Shahzad Ahmed has been deferred for Tuesday.

A Delhi court on Monday reserved its order on quantum of sentence to suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Shahzad in the 2008 encounter case for Tuesday.

Additional sessions judge Rajender Kumar Shastri had on July 25 found Shahzad guilty of assaulting police officers and obstructing them from doing their duty.

Pakistan donates 1 mln USD to quake-hit China

BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met on Wednesday with Pakistan's Ambassador to China Masood Khalid and received a humanitarian donation of one million U.S. dollars from the Pakistani government.

A 6.6-magnitude quake hit northwest China's Gansu Province on Monday morning, leaving 95 dead and 1,001 injured.

"A friend in need is a friend indeed," said Wang, calling Pakistan a devoted friend of China.

Malaysia court quashes Hindu kids' conversion to Islam

KUALA LUMPUR :A Malaysian court on Thursday ruled against the 2009 conversion of three Hindu children to Islam without their mother's knowledge, a verdict welcomed by non-Muslim groups.

A high court in the northern city of Ipoh declared the conversion of Ms Indira Gandhi's children, now aged five, 15 and 16, by their father to be unconstitutional, said Indira's lawyer K. Shanmuga. The judge ruled that the father failed to take the mother and children to Islamic authorities for their consent to the conversion, in a rare verdict in the multiracial but Muslim-majority nation, Mr Shanmuga said.

Two killed in explosion at Beijing bakery

Beijing: At least two people were killed and 19 others injured when a huge explosion reportedly caused by leaking gas blew up a bakery in downtown Beijing on Wednesday.

The explosion in the Golden Phoenix Bakery store caused extensive damage. Windscreens of several cars parked in the Guangming Road, Dongcheng District, where the bakery is located were damaged.

Modi US visa row: CPM MP Yechury says he didn't sign any letter

New Delhi: The controversy over Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's US visa has got more twists and turns. CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury has been denied signing the letter sent to US President Barack Obama against a visa to Modi while MPs say he must have forgotten that he signed it.

Yechury, whose name figures at number 9 on the letter written in late 2012, on Tuesday had refuted claims that he was one of the MPs who has reached out to Obama to halt Modi's visit. He had said, "I would be the last person to write to the US Administration and to do something like this. We don't want anyone to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. Secondly, it is up to the US government to decide on giving visa."

Nineteen dead in Thai bus smash: authorities

BANGKOK: Nineteen people were killed and 20 hurt Tuesday when a double decker coach collided with a truck in central Thailand and burst into flames, authorities said.

“Altogether there are 19 dead — 18 died at the scene and another one died at the hospital,” said an official from the national institute for emergency medicine in Bangkok, who asked not to be named.

She added that 20 people were injured in the early morning crash in central Saraburi province.

China quake death toll more than doubles to 54, hundreds hurt

The death toll from a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in China's western Gansu province on Monday more than doubled to 54 people, the municipal government said, with hundreds injured as many homes in affected areas collapsed.

The quake hit Minxian and Zhangxian counties, about 170 km (105 miles) southeast of the provincial capital of Lanzhou, at 7.45 on Monday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Bangladesh leader sentenced to death for war crimes

DHAKA: A Bangladesh court Wednesday sentenced a senior leader of the country’s largest Islamic party to death for crimes committed during the 1971 war.

Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, 65, was found guilty of five charges, including abduction and murder, and was sentenced to death by the much-criticised International Crimes Tribunal.

“In three out of five charges he was given the death sentence,” the country’s junior attorney general and prosecutor MK Rahman said.

At least 22 children die after eating mid-day meal in Bihar school

Patna: 22 children have died in Bihar, allegedly as a result of food-poisoning from the free mid-day meal provided at their school near Chhapra in the central part of the state, 60 kilometres from the state capital Patna. Most of them who died were younger than 10.

Another 35 children have been admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital.

The mid-day meal caused severe food poisoning, said sources.