14 Thai student activists held

Bangkok - Fourteen Thai students were taken into custody yesterday after staging an anti-coup rally on charges that could see them jailed for seven years, police said, as the ruling junta escalates its chokehold on dissent.

The pro-democracy campaigners are among the few activists who have dared to publicly challenge Thailand's military rulers.

AFP

Sri Lankan Parliament dissolved

Colombo - Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved Parliament and called early elections for Aug 17 after failing to push through changes to the country's voting system he had promised after taking power six months ago.

The decision was announced on the government website last Friday. It came before lawmakers voted on an amendment to make local elections more representative.

Bloomberg

'Hard work' to seal nuclear deal

Vienna - US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned yesterday of "hard work" ahead as they sought to seal a historic nuclear deal after almost two years of intense diplomatic effort.

Days before a June 30 deadline, diplomats say the mooted accord finalising a framework deal agreed in April in Lausanne, Switzerland by Iran and six major powers is far from done.

AFP

Escaped NY convict fatally shot

Washington - Richard Matt, one of two convicted murderers who engineered an escape from New York's largest prison, was shot and killed last Friday by a federal agent, the authorities said, ending one prong of a three-week manhunt that extended across large stretches of the state's northern terrain.

New York Times