Party men, cop killed

HYDERABAD: Police opened fire on Friday on supporters of an opposition party in southern India, killing at least six, after a clash in which party members accused police of murdering a lawmaker and burned 20 trucks and buses, police said. One policeman died in the violence, they said. Fifteen other police and six supporters of the Telugu Desam Party were injured, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Jayarami Reddy said. — AP

S’pore man executed

SINGAPORE: A 38-year-old Singapore man found guilty of drug trafficking was executed on Friday after an unsuccessful last-ditch appeal for clemency by his 14-year-old twin sons, the man’s lawyer said. Shamugam Murugesu was executed at dawn, M Ravi said. Murugesu received a mandatory death sentence last year after he was caught returning by motorcycle from neighbouring Malaysia in August 2003 carrying one kg of marijuana. — AP

Sentenced to death

BEIJING: A former Chinese provincial legislator was sentenced to death on Friday for killing a pedestrian by intentionally driving his car over him in a drunken rage. Hou Jianjun’s car bumped into 55-year-old Qiu Ji in Fushun on March 28, according to police. They said Hou then chased Qiu about 50 metres and fatally struck him with his car.

Hou was convicted of murder by a court in Fushun, the official Xinhua News Agency. — AP

Boat capsize kills 13

SHANGHAI: A Chinese fishing boat flipped over in the Yellow Sea off China’s east coast, killing 13 crew members, the government’s industrial safety commission reported on

Friday. The vessel began taking on water and tilting severely to one side just off the coast of Jiangsu province, about 150 km north of Shanghai, at about 5:00 pm on Thursday, Xinhua said. Of the 40 people on board, 27 made it off the boat and were later rescued, while the others were unable to escape before the boat capsized, it said. — AP

Tiger rebel found dead

COLOMBO: A gagged and bound suspected Tamil Tiger rebel was found shot dead in Sri Lanka’s volatile east on Friday, a day after a gun battle in the same region left four policemen injured, the military and police said. A note attached to the body of the slain man - found in Batticaloa, 220 km east of Colombo - bore a warning to the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, said military spokesman Brig Daya Ratnayake. — AP

4 killed in China blast

BEIJING: An explosion at an oil depot in China’s desert northwest killed four people on Friday and injured one. The depot belonged to a municipal power plant in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The cause was under investigation. —AP

RJD leader shot dead

Patna: A senior leader of Bihar’s former ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was gunned down at his home in the heart of the capital here, leading to sit-ins and road blockades here by his angry party workers on Friday. The party was shouting slogans against Governor Buta Singh and demanding compensation of Rs 1 million to the kin of Rajkishor Chandravanshi, who was killed Thursday night at his house in Golakpur locality. —HNS