Tsunami aid for Andaman:

NEW DELHI: The Indian cabinet on Thursday approved a $190 million aid package to rehabilitate survivors of the tsunamis which ravaged the Andamans archipelago on December 26. The cabinet also approved the construction of 10,100 makeshift shelters for affected families that were to be completed by April 15, a statement said. Under the package, families of those killed would be paid $2,325 compensation while those injured would each receive $1,162. — AFP

94 hurt as ships collide:

HONG KONG: A China-bound hovercraft carrying 165 people collided with a Chinese freighter in Hong Kong waters on Thursday, injuring 94, with four people in serious condition, the government said. The remaining injured people were either stable or still being assessed, said a government spokeswoman who only gave her surname, Kan. The cause of the accident wasn’t immediately known.— AP

Passport forgerers held:

BANGKOK: Thai police have arrested a Spaniard and a Dutchman suspected of forging 110 European passports to be smuggled out of the country, authorities said Thursday. The pair, identified as Dutch national Thomas Marinus Diependaal, 45, and Spain’s Miguel Antonio Grazon Megias, 33, were held after a sting operation in Bangkok on Wednesday and charged with producing and using fake official documents. Police said they learned that the two suspects were to deliver fake passports at a city department store to an informant, who had been told to smuggle them to England. — AFP

NGO offices attacked:

DHAKA: The offices of two leading non-governmental organisations in northwest Bangladesh have been attacked with firebombs, injuring six people, police said on Thursday, blaming Islamic militants. The assaults on the offices of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Grameen Bank occurred on Tuesday and on Wednesday, police said. Three grenades were recovered from another BRAC office on Wednesday before they could explode. — AFP