News In Brief

Farc rebels agree land reform
Reuters, Havana

Colombia and the Marxist-led FARC rebels have reached agreement on the critical issue of agrarian reform, the two sides said on Sunday in a major step forward for the peace process aimed at ending their long war.
They said the accord called for the economic and social development of rural areas and providing land to the people living there, which addresses one of the main issues that led the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, to form in 1964 as a communist agrarian reform movement and launch its insurgency.

Nurse murders 11 in Sydney

Ap, Sydney

A nurse has pleaded guilty to murdering 11 elderly people by setting fire to the Sydney nursing home where he worked.
Roger Dean also pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to another eight nursing home residents injured by the blaze in 2011. The 37-year-old registered nurse was on duty when he set the fire and later appeared on television describing his efforts to rescue trapped people at the nursing home in the suburb of Quakers Hill.

Communist ambush kills 7 cops in Philippines

Ap, Manila

Communist guerrillas set off a roadside bomb and opened fire on a truck carrying police in the northern Philippines yesterday, killing seven and wounding seven officers.
The members of the elite police Special Action Force were en route to a hospital for a regular medical test when the rebels, hiding in the bush along the road, detonated the explosive device and sprayed the vehicle with gunfire, said the regional police director, Chief Superintendent Rodrigo de Gracia.

'Cyber command for India soon'

Tnn, Kannur

India will soon form a cyber command to handle the online threats being faced by the country, defence minister A K Antony said here on Saturday.
"We have already got a mechanism for cyber security but we are augmenting it further and the forces are finalizing a proposal for a cyber command," he told reporters on the sidelines of the passing-out parade of the new batch of cadets at the Indian Naval Academy in Kannur

Vietnam arrests popular blogger

Afp, Hanoi

A prominent Vietnamese blogger has been arrested for posting articles critical of the communist government, reports said yesterday, in the latest crackdown on dissent in the authoritarian country.
Truong Duy Nhat, 49, was detained Sunday at his home in the coastal city of Danang and escorted to Vietnam's capital Hanoi for questioning, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

India bus accident kills 19   

Afp, Lucknow

At least 19 people were killed early yesterday when a bus plunged into a canal in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an official said.
Twenty-three others were rescued and taken to hospital with injuries after the accident in Etah district, 265 kilometres from state capital Lucknow, local administrator Lokesh M told AFP by telephone.