China

Senior CPC leader to visit 4 countries

Senior Communist Party of China leader Liu Yunshan will pay official visits to Belarus, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Cambodia from Sept 4 to 12, International Department of the CPC Central Committee spokesman Huang Huaguang said on Thursday. Liu will make the visits at the invitation of the Presidential Office of Belarus, Ukraine's Party of Regions, the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka and the Cambodian People's Party and Funcinpec Party.

Kenya

41 dead after bus heads down hill

At least 41 people were killed on Thursday in a bus crash west of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross said. "It is a horrible scene. Bodies are strewn all over," traffic police official Samuel Kimaru said by telephone from the scene near the town of Narok. The bus was traveling from Nairobi to Homa Bay on the banks of Lake Victoria when it flew off the road, rolled over and plunged down a hill.

Russia

Region to shoot bears after attacks

Russia's far eastern region of Yakutia is to resort to shooting dead hungry and aggressive wild bears who have become a major danger for humans after floods destroyed their favorite food of berries, an official said on Thursday. "There have been six cases of bear attacks on homes in the past month," said Nikolai Smetanin, head of the region's hunting department, referring to the town of Srednekolymsk.

India

Senior Islamist militant arrested

India announced on Thursday the arrest of Yasin Bhatkal, one of the nation's most wanted men and the alleged co-founder of militant group the Indian Mujahideen, blamed for killing hundreds in a string of attacks. Bhatkal, who is believed to be in his 30s, was arrested near the porous border with Nepal and is in police custody in the northern state of Bihar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said.

Afghanistan

Taliban kill 15 police on highway

Taliban insurgents killed 15 police on the main highway in western Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday, in the latest attack to highlight an escalation in rebel strikes as NATO-led troops withdraw. "Highway One" is a 2,200 kilometer circular road connecting the key cities of Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, but it has been a constant target for insurgent attacks, kidnappings and looting.

Australia

5 detained in smuggling raids

Five men from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been arrested and accused of facilitating the passage of up to 132 asylum-seeker boats in Australia's largest-ever people-smuggling sting, police said on Thursday. The men - an Iranian, a Pakistani national, and three Afghans - were detained in a major nationwide operation, which was the culmination of 12 months of work and seven separate probes into 132 voyages.

Xinhua-AFP

(China Daily USA 08/30/2013 page5)