Power plant deaths: 10 people charged

SHANGHAI • China has charged 10 people over a power plant collapse that killed 74 last month, state media reported yesterday, after first detaining 13 people in the immediate aftermath of the accident.

A platform more than 70m high in a cooling tower at the Ganneng Fengcheng power station in the central province of Jiangxi crashed to the ground late last month, killing 74 people and injuring another two.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Pakatan support for PM candidate

KUALA LUMPUR • Member parties constituting Malaysia's Pakatan Harapan alliance yesterday said they support the Democratic Action Party's proposal for Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to be made interim prime minister and deputy prime minister if the opposition wins the next general election, reported the Malay Mail Online.

However, the opposition leaders stressed that they still endorsed jailed Parti Keadilan Rakyat leader Anwar Ibrahim as prime minister-designate.

The ruling coalition has belittled the announcement and said the opposition should make statements of policy instead.

Militant behind attack on base: India

NEW DELHI • India yesterday accused Pakistani militant leader Maulana Masood Azhar of masterminding an attack on an air force base in January that led to a breakdown in relations between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Seven soldiers were killed in the attack on the Indian air force base in Pathankot, which New Delhi has said could not have been carried out without the help of the Islamabad government.

It blames the Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), founded by Azhar, who was released from an Indian prison in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE