Quake jolts China

BEIJING:

A strong earthquake jolted China’s remote west on Friday, but no injuries or damage were reported, the government said. The magnitude-5.2 temblor struck in Moyu, a county in the Xinjiang region, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Another magnitude-5.1 tremor hit 300 km east on Thursday, it said. No injuries were

reported. — AP

‘Mastermind’ charged

Dhaka:

Shaikh Abdur Rahman, the suspected mastermind of hundreds of near-simultaneous bomb attacks across the country last week and who is on the run, has been charged in his absence in a Bangladesh court, police said on Friday. —AFP

4 rebels, soldier killed

SRINAGAR:

Four suspected rebels and a soldier were killed in separate clashes Friday in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, police officer Mohammad Ali said. — AP

Cartoonist freed

BANGKOK:

Cartoonist Chit Swe, a member of Myanmar’s pro-democracy opposition, has been released from jail after serving a one-month sentence, Reporters Without Borders and Myanmar’s main opposition said on Friday. — AFP