Monks hold prayers

GUWAHATI: Hundreds of monks were holding special prayers in northeastern India after China

objected to the Dalai Lama’s proposed visit to the area, which Beijing claims is Chinese territory, a top Buddhist priest said on Thursday. Lama Lopon, one of the head priests at the Tawang monastery, said nearly 60 monks have begun special prayers at the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh state so that the Tibetan spiritual leader could have a “smooth visit” to the region. “Similar prayers are being held by monks and nuns in monasteries across Arunachal Pradesh,” Lopon said. The Dalai Lama’s trip to Arunachal Pradesh, scheduled for mid-November, has run into controversy after China

opposed the visit. — AP

9 hurt in school attack

ANSBACH: An 18-year-old student armed with an axe and Molotov cocktails wounded nine pupils at his high school in southern Germany on Thursday, then was shot and arrested by police, authorities said. The teenager entered the Carolinum High School in the Bavarian town of Ansbach and threw two of the explosive devices, but they caused no major fires, fire service official Horst Settler said. All 700 students at the school were safely evacuated. — AP

China court ruling

BEIJING: A court in western China’s Xinjiang region sentenced four men accused of jabbing a pedestrian with a hypodermic needle to prison terms of eight to 15 years on Thursday, as authorities move swiftly to assuage panic over a string of such attacks. The men were the second group of attackers to be sentenced over the bizarre syringe attacks. — AP

Unrest rocks Somalia

MOGADISHU: Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars with UN logos drove into the main base of African Union peacekeepers on Thursday, detonating the devices in two massive blasts that blew out nearby

windows and shrouded the sky in black smoke. — AP

India’s CO2 concerns

NEW DELHI: India said on Thursday it was ready to set itself non-binding targets for cutting carbon emissions in a bid to shed its image as an intransigent polluter ahead of UN climate change talks in December. “We are already taking a number of actions that will result in significant reductions of our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. Developing countries have refused to adhere to cuts. — AFP