Strike hits Indian state

HYDERABAD: Shops and offices in parts of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh were shut on Monday after Maoist rebels called a strike to protest against the killing of guerrillas by police. The strike was felt most in rural areas of the state but its impact in urban areas was minimal, a police official said. The strike was called by Maoists in the wake of spiraling violence in the last two weeks that left 14 people, including 11 rebels, a local politician, a police constable and an alleged police informer, dead. — AFP

J&K passport office shut

SRINAGAR: India closed down on Monday its main passport office in Kashmir after it was badly damaged in a weekend gunbattle between Indian troops and Islamic militants which left four dead. Two security forces were killed and two wounded in the gunbattle with the militants at the complex in Srinagar, which had been requisitioned as a temporary barracks by the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force. Both militants, who had hurled grenades to force their way into the stadium Saturday, also died. — AFP

200 hurt as trains collide

BANGKOK: A subway train slammed into another one stopped at a station during morning rush hour on Monday, injuring more than 200 people, six months after the subway system opened in the Thai capital, police said. Local hospitals reported at least 212 people hurt in the accident, most with minor injuries. About two dozen people were seriously hurt. The company managing the subway, pinned the blame on human error. — AP

Man kills baby daughter

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi man who tried to stab his wife as she slept missed his target and fatally stabbed their one-year-old daughter instead, a report said on Monday. The attack, which followed an argument over an alleged affair, happened as the baby girl was sleeping beside her mother, the private UNB agency said quoting officials and local people. The mother was also injured in the attack and was in a critical condition in hospital. — AFP

80 Chinese officials held

SHANGHAI: Eighty Chinese officials involved in a loan scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars in southern Guangdong province have been sacked and almost 30 are awaiting trial, state media reported on Monday. Following a year-long investigation authorities found 233 people including 80 officials of the ruling communist party involved in defrauding the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) of $894 million, Xinhua news agency said. — AFP