‘Piles of bodies’ in South Sudan slaughter
Nairobi: The UN's top humanitarian official in South Sudan says he saw “piles and piles” of bodies after rebels belonging to one ethnic group slaughtered members of other groups in a remote town. Toby lanzer said on Tuesday that the killings are ‘quite possibly a game-changer’ for a conflict that has been raging since mid-December. UN human rights investigators, on Monday, said that hundreds of civilians were killed last week because of their ethnicity.
Indian-origin academics in UK ‘dread' Modi
london: Around 75 professors and other academics of Indian origin working at some of Britain's prestigious institutions such as Cambridge and Oxford university and london School of Economics on Tuesday issued an open letter, sharply attacking Narendra Modi and saying, “The idea of Modi in power fills us with dread.” The academics led by Prof Chetan Bhatt and Gautam Appa of the london School of Economics issued the open letter in the UK's left-leaning Independent newspaper.
Man dies after being shot IN US courthouse
Salt lake City: A defendant died after being shot by a US marshal on Monday during an attack on a witness during a trial in a new federal courthouse in Salt lake City, the FBI said. Siale Angilau, 25, died at a hospital after he was shot in the chest as he rushed the witness with a pen in an “aggressive, threatening manner,” the FBI said. Angilau was shot several times in front of a jury that had been selected on Friday.
Pakistan test-fires short-range missile
Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday successfully test-fired a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf III (Ghaznavi), capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads to a range
of 290 kilometres, that could cover parts of India. The “successful training launch” concluded the Field Training Exercise of Strategic Missile Group of Army Strategic Forces Command, the military said in a statement here.
Talks to end Thai political crisis inconclusive
Bangkok: Efforts to resolve Thailand's political crisis on Tuesday suffered a setback as the main opposition party leader skipped a key meet aimed at deciding a date for a fresh general election, which ended inconclusively. The Election Commission called the talks to discuss a new poll date with political rivals including Opposition Democrat Party. EC Chairman Supachai Somcharoen said the poll body is ready to consider suggestions from all political parties and could hold the next poll before July 20.
Buddha tattoo: sri lanka to deport UK tourist
Colombo: A 35-year-old British woman faces deportation for sporting a Buddha tattoo in Buddhist-majority Sri lanka, where disrespect of the religion by foreigners is frowned upon. The woman tourist, who has been detained, had arrived at the Colombo international airport from Mumbai yesterday morning. “She was produced before the magistrate at Negombo who ordered her to be detained at the immigration detention centre before deportation,” a police statement said.
Cyclone halts aerial search for plane
Perth: Aerial search for the crashed Malaysian jet was suspended on Tuesday due to a tropical cyclone over the southern Indian Ocean, as a robotic mini-submarine scouring the seabed failed to locate the plane's wreckage after nine missions. “Planned air search activities have been suspended for today due to poor weather conditions in the search area as a result of Tropical Cyclone Jack," Perth-based Joint Agency Coordination Centre said on the 46th day of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
South Korea says North close to nuke test
Seoul: North Korea could well be preparing to carry out a fourth nuclear test, South Korea said on Tuesday, citing increased activity at its main test site just days ahead of a visit to Seoul by US President Barack Obama. “Our military is currently detecting a lot of activity in and around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site,” defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told a press briefing.
Japan starts publishing minutes of cabinet meets
Tokyo: Japan on Tuesday started publishing minutes from Cabinet meetings for the first time in the body’s 129-year history, in an apparent bid to counter accusations of secrecy. “We decided to disclose them in order to improve transparency and from the viewpoint of making us more accountable to the public,” the Government’s chief spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
Indian doctors seek meeting with Cameron
london: Indian-origin doctors in Britain are planning to meet Prime Minister David Cameron and seek his intervention over the “unfair” assessment of their medical skills. The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin is planning to seek an appointment with Cameron over a recent study which claimed overseas doctors from countries like India were less competent than local professionals.