News In Brief

Iraq attacks kill 16

Afp, Baghdad
Attacks killed 16 people in Iraq yesterday, officials said, as the cabinet discussed how to curb violence that has left over 500 dead this month and raised fears of all-out sectarian conflict.
As of yesterday, 519 people have been killed and over 1,300 wounded in May, making it the deadliest month in at least a year, according to AFP figures. The attacks come a day after a wave of violence, including bombings in Baghdad that mainly targeted Shiite areas, killed 58 people and wounded 187.

Libya assembly chief quits

Afp, Tripoli
Mohamed al-Megaryef, the president of Libya's top political body, resigned yesterday to comply with a new law banning Gaddafi-era officials from government jobs.
Megaryef was Libya's ambassador to India in the 1980s under the regime of now slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi before he defected to become a leader of the exiled opposition for three decades.
The GNC passed the law on May 5 under pressure from gunmen who had surrounded the foreign and justice ministries for days to press the government to sack Gaddafi-linked officials.

China hacks US weapons systems plans

BBC Online
Chinese hackers have accessed designs for more than two dozen US weapons systems, a US newspaper has reported.
Designs for combat aircraft, ships and missile defences were among those compromised, a Pentagon paper found, the Washington Post reported. The Washington Post report comes as Australia discloses Chinese hackers stole floor plans for the new headquarters of its domestic intelligence agency.

China hacks Aussie spy HQ: Report
Afp, Sydney

Chinese hackers have stolen top-secret blueprints of Australia's new intelligence agency headquarters, a report said yesterday, but Foreign Minister Bob Carr insisted ties with Beijing would not be hurt.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the documents taken in the cyber hit included cable layouts for the huge building's security and communications systems, its floor plan and its server locations.
For its part, China noted that it was "very difficult to find the origin of hacker attacks", with foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei questioning "where the evidence is for the relevant media to make such reports."

Malaysia boat capsizes; 23 missing
Afp, Kuala Lumpur

Twenty-three people are missing in remote Borneo after a boat overloaded with holidaymakers heading home for a festival capsized yesterday in treacherous rapids on a jungle river, Malaysian police said.
The accident occurred on Malaysia's longest river, the Rajang, which flows from deep in the rugged interior of Borneo island in the state of Sarawak.
Bakar Anak Sebau, police chief of the remote town of Belaga near the site of the mishap, told AFP the boat's capacity was just 74 passengers but that 181 people had been rescued after the accident on Tuesday morning.

3 climbers die on Everest quest
Afp, Kathmandu

Another three climbers have perished during Himalayan expeditions in Nepal, organisers said yesterday, casting a shadow over celebrations this week of the first summit of Everest 60 years ago.
A 67-year-old Japanese woman named as Chizuko Kono and 50-year-old Spaniard Juanjo Garra went missing on Friday on Mount Dhaulagiri along with their Nepalese guide and were confirmed dead yesterday.
The death toll from this year's climbing season, the 60th since Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary reached the summit of Mount Everest for the first time, is now at 16.

Tenth arrest made in London attack
Afp, London

Police investigating the grisly murder of a soldier in London by two Islamists made another arrest on Monday, as 1,000 far-right protesters demonstrated near Prime Minister David Cameron's office.
A 50-year-old man, held on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, becomes the tenth person arrested over the hacking to death of 25-year-old Lee Rigby near a barracks in Woolwich on Wednesday.

Iraq attacks kill 16

Afp, Baghdad
Attacks killed 16 people in Iraq yesterday, officials said, as the cabinet discussed how to curb violence that has left over 500 dead this month and raised fears of all-out sectarian conflict.
As of yesterday, 519 people have been killed and over 1,300 wounded in May, making it the deadliest month in at least a year, according to AFP figures. The attacks come a day after a wave of violence, including bombings in Baghdad that mainly targeted Shiite areas, killed 58 people and wounded 187.

Libya assembly chief quits

Afp, Tripoli
Mohamed al-Megaryef, the president of Libya's top political body, resigned yesterday to comply with a new law banning Gaddafi-era officials from government jobs.
Megaryef was Libya's ambassador to India in the 1980s under the regime of now slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi before he defected to become a leader of the exiled opposition for three decades.
The GNC passed the law on May 5 under pressure from gunmen who had surrounded the foreign and justice ministries for days to press the government to sack Gaddafi-linked officials.

China hacks US weapons systems plans

BBC Online
Chinese hackers have accessed designs for more than two dozen US weapons systems, a US newspaper has reported.
Designs for combat aircraft, ships and missile defences were among those compromised, a Pentagon paper found, the Washington Post reported. The Washington Post report comes as Australia discloses Chinese hackers stole floor plans for the new headquarters of its domestic intelligence agency.