Suicide bomber kills at least 14 in Pakistan

PESHAWAR • At least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan yesterday, the latest assault targeting Pakistan's legal community.

The bomber shot his way through the main gate to the district court before throwing a hand grenade and detonating his suicide vest among the morning crowd, police said.

The attack came a month after a suicide bomb packed with ball bearings killed 73 people - nearly half of them lawyers - when it tore through a hospital in the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta, where a crowd had gathered after the fatal shooting of a local senior lawyer.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

World's oldest male panda turns 31

CHENGDU • Pan Pan, the world's oldest male panda, marked his 31st birthday - equivalent to about 100 human years - in a panda protection centre in China's south-western Sichuan province on Thursday.

Unlike previous birthdays, Pan Pan spent this one amid little fanfare as he has been moved to quieter quarters since being diagnosed with cancer.

XINHUA