China warns of more action after military drills

BEIJING• A series of military drills near Taiwan were meant to send a clear message to the self-ruled island and China will take further steps if independence forces persist in doing as they please, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang said yesterday.

The military's drills are aimed at protecting peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the interests of people on both sides of it, he said.

REUTERS

Murdered Palestinian given emotional send-off

KUALA LUMPUR• • The body of a Palestinian scientist was driven through Kuala Lumpur yesterday, with a crowd shouting "God is greatest", as mourners accused Israel of killing him.

Islamist militant group Hamas member Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh, a member of and said to be a rocket-making expert, was murdered in a hail of bullets by motorbike-riding attackers Saturday as he walked to a KL mosque for dawn prayers.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

UN team to visit Rakhine state next week

MAUNGDAW (Myanmar)• • A United Nations Security Council delegation which wants to see first-hand the impact of the Rohingya refugee crisis will arrive in Myanmar on Monday and visit Rakhine state, a senior government official said.

It will be the highest-profile UN visit since the start last August of a violent crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority, which the UN and America have described as ethnic cleansing.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Taiwan veterans clash with police in protest

TAIPEI• • Taiwanese military veterans yesterday scuffled with police as they tried to storm Parliament in the latest of a series of protests against planned pension cuts.

Hundreds gathered outside the legislature's main entrance and some threw smoke bombs and water bottles at police guarding the building in central Taipei.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE