■ SRI LANKA
Military captures bunkers
The military said yesterday that government forces captured 14 Tamil Tiger rebel bunkers in intense fighting in the north that killed “many” combatants. The fighting was reported after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the military was trying to minimize civilian casualties in its campaign against the rebels. Rajapaksa gave the assurance on Saturday in a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. There have been protests by ethnic Tamils in nearby India who say fellow Tamils are being targeted in the Sri Lankan conflict.
■ INDIA
Troops kill three at border
Troops shot dead three suspected Islamic militants during a gunbattle along the de facto border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the army said yesterday. The three were killed overnight during a “fierce encounter” in Rajouri district, about 430km south of Srinagar, an army statement said. The militants were asked to surrender after they infiltrated into Indian Kashmir “but they instead chose to fight,” the army said.
■ TONGA
Quake rattles capital
A powerful earthquake hit near the country yesterday, but there was no tsunami alert and no immediate report of injuries, Australian seismologists said. The 6.8-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 10km and hit east of the capital of Nuku’alofa, Geoscience Australia said. A correspondent said the city shook steadily for about two minutes but no tsunami alert was issued for the island nation. Buildings in the business district and along the seafront appeared undamaged, which hit as many were at evening church services. “We’ve got it at a magnitude 6.8 and very shallow,” seismologist Clive Collins said.
■ MALAYSIA
Official makes a comeback
The former health minister, who resigned earlier this year over a sex scandal, has won a key post in the ruling coalition’s second-largest party, reports said yesterday. Chua Soi-lek, who stepped down in January over the release of a video showing him having sex with a female friend, was voted in as the deputy president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the Star daily said. The deputy president and president of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the second-largest member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, are traditionally given ministerial positions in the government. Chua’s dramatic comeback follows a change in leadership for the largest Chinese-based party in the ruling coalition, which has ruled the country since its independence in 1957.
■ CHINA
Veteran director dies
One of most prominent directors, Xie Jin (謝晉), has died. He was 84. The filmmaker was found dead early on Saturday in his hotel room in Shangyu, where he was attending the 100th anniversary of his middle school, Xinhua news agency reported. Xie’s career spanned six decades, predating the communist era. The cause of his death remained unclear, Xinhua said in a report late on Saturday. Actress Liu Xiaoqing (劉曉慶), made famous by Xie’s 1968 film Hibiscus Town said on her blog on Saturday that the director was still active on Friday, picking up his wife from a hospital where she had a pacemaker installed, before leaving for his school anniversary celebration.
■ THAILAND
Samak suffers from cancer
Samak Sundaravej, the former prime minister who was forced from office last month for appearing in television cooking shows, is being treated for liver cancer, local media reported yesterday. The 73-year-old had an operation earlier this month at a private Bangkok hospital to remove a tumor in his liver, the Bangkok Post reported, quoting a television journalist who had visited Samak. The newspaper said he was due to be discharged later this month and quoted the journalist as saying Samak’s condition was “not as serious as suspected.”
RSS