4 killed in Thailand

BANGKOK: A Buddhist man beheaded in southern Thailand was among four people killed in a spike in violence blamed on Islamic insurgents there, police said on Monday. — AFP

Zardari has a stroke

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s husband Asif Ali Zardari suffered a heart attack in the United Arab Emirates and is in intensive care at a hospital in Dubai, his party said on Sunday. — AFP

Plane door torn off

TAIPEI: The side door of a United Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft was torn off on Monday when it suddenly moved away from a passenger gantry at Taiwan’s Chiang Kai-shek, airport officials said. None of the 143 passengers and 11 crew on the plane that was bound for Nagoya, Japan, were injured. — AFP

2 killed as train derails

BHOPAL: At least two people were killed and 15 injured on Monday after five coaches of the Mhow-Chittor holiday express derailed near Ratlam in western Madhya Pradesh. Railway officials said the number of casualties was likely to go up. — HNS

Tainted letter

JAKARTA: Indonesian police said on Monday they were checking a letter containing a “strong smell” sent to the head of a court on the resort island of Bali that recently jailed an Australian woman on drugs charges. Members of police forensic laboratory are investigating the smell and the letter has been taken for tests. — AFP