■ India
Car runs over homeless
A woman and her daughter died when a taxi driver ran over six homeless people sleeping on a sidewalk in Mumbai, police said. The 25-year-old woman and her six-month-old child were instantly killed when the speeding vehicle crushed the six victims on the pavement of Mello Road District, police told the Press Trust of India. Police arrested the cab driver and rushed the critically injured people to a hospital.
■ India
Policeman kills colleagues
A police officer shot dead five of his colleagues yesterday after an argument outside the bank they were guarding in New Delhi, officials said. Another officer was wounded in the early morning incident, a police spokesman said. Area police chief Alok Kumar said the victims appeared to have been shot at close range. The officer who opened fire has not been found. "The service weapons of the five men had not been used which indicates they were taken by surprise," a forensic expert said.
■ Sri Lanka
Thousands flee fighting
Continued artillery duels between troops and Tamil Tigers in the east have forced more than 40,000 civilians to flee rebel-held territory to government-held areas, both sides said yesterday. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said two civilians were killed over the weekend after military shelling in the Batticaloa district that led to thousands of Tamil civilians fleeing their homes. The defense ministry acknowledged that around 40,000 Tamil refugees were being accommodated at welfare centers or with friends and relatives in a government-held part of the district. It said the civilians were on the run because of fears that their children could be conscripted by the Tigers.
■ Thailand
Karen flee Myanmar
Some 300 ethnic Karen have fled to western Thailand to escape fighting in military-ruled Myanmar between government forces and ethnic rebels, the Thai army said yesterday. Most of those fleeing the conflict were women and children who crossed the border during the past week to the western province of Tak, Colonel Kasem Tanaporn told reporters. He could not confirm any casualties from the fighting, which has pitted Myanmar's government forces and the pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army against the rebel Karen National Union (KNU). The KNU is the largest rebel group fighting Myanmar's junta and one of the few remaining ethnic insurgent groups yet to sign a peace deal with the junta.
■ Serbia
ICTY accused of murder
The brother of the late Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic yesterday accused the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of being responsible for the "murder" of his brother, the Interfax news agency reported. Borislav Milosevic, who lives in Moscow, said lack of medical care ensured the early death of his brother, who died in his cell of natural causes in The Hague on March 11 last year, aged 64. Milosevic was being tried for war crimes at the ICTY. "They would not let him leave for treatment. The man died. I think that is murder," Milosevic said.
■ Switzerland
Elderly wins pageant
Leontine Vallade, of uncertain age, became a Miss on Saturday, winning the country's first ever title of "Miss Home for the Elderly." Vallade, who counts floral arrangements among her favorite pastimes, beat off a strong challenge from the nine other contestants aged over 70 at the Chataigners home for the elderly in Veyrier, on the outskirts of Geneva. The jury of representatives from five retirement or nursing homes said they were won over by her charisma and smile, earning the local pensioner a free meal at a luxury restaurant and a bunch of flowers. The runners-up also won prizes.
RSS