News in Brief

Mehsud group quits Pak Taliban

Ians, Islamabad
Mehsud faction of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan yesterday announced its dissociation from the outlawed militant group accusing it of deviating from it's real goal, media reported. Officials said that the Mehsud faction was the largest group in TTP and their separation has almost paralysed the militant movement.

MH370 search postponed

CNN Online
With no tangible evidence found by the underwater drone, which costs an estimated $40,000 a day to operate, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 search officials are regrouping and preparing to deploy more high-tech equipment. The Bluefin-21 drone has completed its final mission in the Indian Ocean yesterday, marking the end of the underwater hunt -- for now. No search operation is scheduled for the next two months.

China sentences 55 in Xinjiang mass trial

Reuters, Beijing
Local officials in China's western Xinjiang region held a public rally for the mass sentencing of criminals on Tuesday, handing out judgements for 55 people and at least three death sentences for crimes such as "violent terrorism", state media said. The public sentencing, reminiscent of China's revolutionary era rallies, attracted a crowd of 7,000 at a sports stadium in Yining city in the northern prefecture of Yili.

Zardari acquitted in graft case

Pti, Islamabad
Former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was acquitted yesterday in a corruption case related to the illegal construction of a polo ground at the Prime Minister House when his wife Benazir Bhutto was the premier.An accountability court in its verdict said the accused has not been proven guilty. Zardari's counsel Farook Naek told the court that not a single witness testified against the defendant.

Syria polls: Refugees cast early votes

BBC Online
Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan were being given the chance yesterday to vote early in the presidential election due to be held next week. The UN says 2.8 million Syrian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries. President Bashar al-Assad is widely expected to win a third seven-year term in office in the 3 June election, which has been branded a farce by the West.