Pigs culled in Jakarta

TANGERANG: Indonesia became the first known country on Sunday to destroy pigs in its effort

to contain the rapid spread of bird flu, which has killed at least 57 people across Asia and devastated poultry stocks. Eighteen pigs that tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the virus were killed on two farms on the outskirts of Jakarta. — AP

China blast kills girl

BEIJING: An eight-year-old girl was killed and 26 others injured after an explosion at a children’s park in China’s northern province of Shanxi caused several buildings to collapse, state media reported on Sunday. The powerful blast on Thursday flattened a two-storey office building at the Xishan children’s park and three houses nearby, Xinhua news agency said. — AFP

14 missing in mishap

BEIJING: A bus plunged into a river in southern China, leaving 14 people missing, the government said on Sunday. The accident occurred late on Saturday night in the Guangxi region, as the bus was traveling from Wuzhou, a city in Guangxi, to the provincial capital of Nanning, the official Xinhua News Agency said. — AP

3 youths shot dead

SRINAGAR: Soldiers shot dead three youths and seriously wounded a fourth in Kashmir on Sunday after mistaking them for rebels, police said. The shootings in Bangargund village in northern Kupwara district prompted several thousand people to take to the streets, demanding punishment for the troops. The soldiers fired on the youths who had left wedding celebrations that continued into the early hours of Sunday. The youths had ignored army restrictions on people going outside after dark, police said. — AFP

Pak soldier killed

QUETTA: Pakistani troops exchanged fire with suspected drug traffickers on Sunday near the Iranian border in southwestern Pakistan, leaving one paramilitary soldier dead, an official said. The firefight erupted before dawn near Taftan — a border town about 600 km southwest of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province — in an area commonly used by narcotics smugglers who illegally cross between Pakistan and Iran, said LtCol Rizwan Malik, a spokesman for the Frontier Corps. — AP