News in brief
AP, Quetta
A Pakistani official says gunmen have killed 10 laborers who were working on a road project in the country’s southwest
Local police official Abdul Salam says the attack took place Saturday near the recently completed Gwadar port in Baluchistan province, which was built with Chinese funding. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
China is building a network of roads and power plants under a project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. However, Salam said the road where the attack took place is not part of the project.
Manila, Beijing to hold talks next week
AFP, Manila
The Philippines and China will open bilateral talks on their dispute over the South China Sea next week, Manila’s ambassador to Beijing said on Saturday.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to deepen relations with China despite its extensive island-building in disputed parts of the South China Sea, in the hopes of securing billions of dollars’ worth of investments from Beijing.
Palestinians hold local elections
in West Bank
Reuters, Ramallah
Palestinians held municipal elections on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, a first democratic exercise in years, but one that has also raised tensions between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements.
With no legislative or presidential elections in sight, the municipal ballot is seen as a popularity test for Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party, caught in a deep rift with Islamist Hamas.
2 killed as India, Pakistan trade fire in Kashmir
AP, Srinagar
Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir on Saturday, killing two civilians and wounding six others, officials said. Indian army spokesman Lt. Col. Manish Mehta said Pakistani soldiers started shelling and firing at Indian military posts in the morning in the Nowshera sector along the highly militarized Line of Control that divides the region between India and Pakistan.
He said that Indian troops returned fire and that the gunbattle was still ongoing Saturday afternoon.
