Tourist murder probe

MOUNT ABU : The police in this hill resort in Rajasthan on Thursday launched an investigation into the murder of an Israeli tourist whose body was found in a jungle. The police suspect that Stephen Nick, 35, was killed with a sharp weapon after he was robbed. The manager of the hotel Lake Cottage had filed a report with the Mount Abu police station stating that Nick had checked in on Tuesday and went for sightseeing but he did not return. — HNS

China backs UN bid

BEIJING: China supports the efforts of the United Nations to help bring reconciliation Myanmar, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, ahead of a visit by the UN special envoy. Ibrahim Gambari’s visit to China, which does considerable trade with Myanmar, comes after Myanmar’s main opposition party staged a street protest this week to complain that the ruling junta’s recent moves toward democracy were not enough. —AP

Rebel leader killed

BANGKOK: A top leader of Myanmar’s rebel Karen National Union who was also a key figure in the democracy movement was assassinated on Thursday at his home in Thailand, Thai police and political exiles said. Pado Manh Sha, 65, was KNU’s secretary general based in

the Thai town of Mae Sot. He was also an outspoken critic of Myanmar’s military regime who built bridges between the ethnic Karen and the democracy movement inside the country. — AFP

Two civilians killed

Kabul: US-led coalition swoops on Taliban leaders left several insurgents dead while two civilians transporting construction materials were blown up by a rebel bomb, officials said on Thursday. Coalition troops moved into action yesterday against rebel leaders in the provinces of Uruzgan and Zabul, both in the south where Taliban violence is at its most severe and fed by a rampant opium trade.

A “number” of rebels were killed in the operation in Uruzgan, a coalition statement said. It did not make clear if the targeted militant was among the dead.— AFP

China calls it baseless

BEIJING : China on Thursday called US allegations of Chinese spying “groundless”. The reaction from a Foreign Ministry spokesman came after a U.S.Defence Department analyst and a former engineer for Boeing Co. were charged in separate espionage cases with handing over military secrets to the Chinese government. “The so-called accusation against China is totally groundless. We urge the US to stop its Cold War thinking and stop groundless

accusations, and do more to contribute to our mutual trust and friendship between our two peoples,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao said. —AFP