US, India sign military logistics pact
The United States and India signed an agreement on Monday governing the use of each other’s land, air and naval bases for repair and resupply, a step toward building defense ties as they seek to counter the growing maritime assertiveness of China.
The agreement, a relatively mundane one concerning day-to-day military logistics, is nonetheless a milestone in the U.S.-India defense relationship because of the outsized political importance it had taken on in India, where it had touched on domestic sensitivities, experts said.
N Korea executed top minister: Seoul
BBC Online
South Korean government officials have said that North Korea executed one of its highest ranking ministers last month.
Seoul’s unification ministry said Kim Yong-jin was one of Pyongyang’s vice premiers and in charge of education.
Somalia hotel attack death toll rises to 15
AFP, Mogadishu
At least 15 people died when jihadists exploded a suicide car bomb outside a popular hotel close to the presidential palace in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, police said Wednesday, updating an earlier toll.
“The number of the people who died in the blast reached 15 and 45 others were wounded, most of them lightly,” said Mogadishu police chief Bishar Abshir Gedi.
Riot police patrol Zimbabwe cities
AFP, Harare
Riot police patrolled Zimbabwe’s capital Harare and other cities Wednesday after authorities vowed to prevent further protests against President Robert Mugabe’s government.
Organisers of recent demonstrations had planned a “shutdown” protest day, but shops and offices were open as usual in Harare.
Nine die in flooded Japan care home
AFP, Tokyo
Nine people were found dead inside a home for elderly people in northern Japan, police said Wednesday, after a powerful typhoon tore through the region.
“We are trying to confirm the identities of these bodies,” Iwate prefectural police Shuko Sakamoto told AFP, confirming that nine corpses were found inside the care home in the town of Iwaizumi, which suffered flooding.
Zika cases in S’pore surge to 82
AP, Singapore
The number of Zika cases in Singapore has surged to 82, the government said today, as the mosquito-fighting effort continued in a bid to curb the spread of the disease.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health and National Environment Agency confirmed 26 new local infections – the majority around the eastern Aljunied suburb where most of the other cases have been clustered.
