Pakistani soldiers killed in Kashmir
ISLAMABAD • Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed by Indian shelling across the frontier in the disputed Kashmir region overnight, said Pakistan's military yesterday, as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours continue to simmer.
Pakistan's military media wing, ISPR, said the soldiers were killed in the Bhimber sector on the "Line of Control" de facto border in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
A spokesman for India's army said its soldiers had responded to Pakistani firing on Sunday night.
REUTERS
Another setback in cross-strait ties
TAIPEI • Statues donated by pro-Beijing actor Jackie Chan to a top Taiwanese museum and later defaced by anti-China protesters have been removed from display, officials said yesterday, in a further sign of ties between the neighbours deteriorating.
Workers began to move the set of 12 zodiac animal sculptures from the garden of the National Palace Museum's southern branch in the presence of several lawmakers from the ruling Beijing-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party, who had backed their removal.
The sculptures are copies of high-profile historic artefacts from China's Qing Dynasty and are seen on the mainland as emblematic of the country's suffering under foreign invaders.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Toddler dies after ISIS-linked attack
JAKARTA • An Indonesian toddler died yesterday from injuries sustained in a suspected extremist attack on a church, with a group of militants who support the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group detained over the assault.
Two-year-old Intan Olivia Marbun was one of four young children hurt on Sunday when an attacker wearing a T-shirt with the word "jihad" on it threw Molotov cocktails at the place of worship on Borneo island from a motorbike.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Thai tourism target remains in reach
CHIANG MAI • Tourist arrivals to Thailand have not been hit by a strict mourning period for the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the authorities said yesterday, as curbs on entertainment and celebrations imposed since his death on Oct 13 were eased.
Mr Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya of the Tourism Authority of Thailand said a target set before the king's death of a record 32 million arrivals for 2016 - up from 30 million last year - remained in reach. "So far numbers have not dropped, that's from the surveys we did and from numbers from overseas offices," he said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
