News in brief
AP, Yangon
Myanmar’s government has set up an advisory panel headed by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to find “lasting solutions” to the conflict in Rakhine state, where human rights groups have documented widespread abuses against the minority Rohingya Muslims.
A statement Tuesday by the office of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi said an agreement will be signed between her office and the Kofi Annan Foundation to set up a nine-member advisory commission to resolve “protracted issues in the region.”
Iran seeks closer ties with Cuba
AFP, Havana
Iran wants to forge a “new path” in its relations with Cuba by tightening ties, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday at the start of a Latin American tour.
“It’s a very opportune moment to extend our relations,” he told journalists at the start of a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
Another young man killed in Kashmir
AP, Srinagar
Police in Indian-controlled Kashmir say government forces have fired shotguns and tear gas to break up fierce new protests demanding an end to Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region, killing a young man and wounding dozens of others.
Police said the clashes erupted Wednesday after troops tried to stop thousands of people who defied a curfew in southern Pulwama town.
Afghan migrant shot dead in Serbia
AP, Belgrade
Serbia’s defense ministry says a 20-year old Afghan migrant crossing illegally from Bulgaria has been shot dead, apparently by hunters.
The ministry said Wednesday that its border patrol heard a shot Tuesday night and then discovered six migrants, of whom one had a chest wound. He later died.
Pak charges MQM chief with treason
PTI, Karachi
Pakistan on Tuesday charged MQM chief Altaf Hussain with treason for his inflammatory speech that incited party workers to attack media outlets in Karachi.
Altaf, leader of Mutthaida-E-Qaumi Movement – the single largest party in Karachi, was accused of raising anti-Pakistan slogans at a protest rally that turned violent.
Train hits bus in Germany, 10 injured
AP, Berlin
German police say a train hit a bus on a road crossing, injuring 10 people.
Police in northwestern Osnabrueck said the driver of the articulated bus apparently stopped to let passengers on and off next to the crossing in nearby Melle on Wednesday.
1 dead in Thai bombing
AFP, Pattani
A large car bomb exploded Wednesday outside a hotel in Thailand’s deep south, killing one and wounding more than 30 in a nation already on edge after a bombing spree that targeted tourist towns.
