China, Thailand ink rail, rice and rubber deal

BANGKOK • China will sign agreements to build a railway in Thailand and buy some of its rice and rubber, senior Thai government officials said yesterday. The agreements are the latest sign of strengthening relations between the two nations since a coup in Thailand last year.

China has been supportive of the Thai military government, in contrast to the United States which has distanced itself from the generals who seized power.

Thailand will agree to a memorandum of understanding with China to build a long-mooted 900km railway from the Thai-Lao border to Bangkok, the officials said, although there is still no agreement on the price of financing the project.

REUTERS

Man kills sister for voting in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD • An angry brother shot his elder sister dead because she voted in Pakistani local elections after he had forbidden her to do so, police said yesterday.

Danish Ali, 20, was furious because his sister Asif Noreen, a 32-year old schoolteacher, had defied his instructions and cast her vote, local police official Naeem Abbas said.

"According to a report filed by the deceased's father, Ali shot Noreen with his pistol and she died on the spot in their home," Mr Abbas said.

Police are still hunting for Ali, who is on the run.

The turnout by women is usually weak in the most conservative rural parts of Pakistan, but incidents of women being killed for voting are rare.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE