King pardons lawmaker holed up in party HQ

PHNOM PENH • A Cambodian opposition leader who has spent months holed up in his party headquarters in a bid to avoid arrest was pardoned by the king yesterday, breaking a lengthy political stalemate.

Mr Kem Sokha, the acting head of Cambodia's biggest opposition group, had refused to leave the headquarters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party since late May over a prosecution that he says was politically motivated.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Man arrested over 'sausage bombs'

BEIJING • A man in northern China has been arrested after he tried to make four pork sausages look like explosives and threatened to blow up his former girlfriend and her family if she did not meet him.

According to the South China Morning Post, the man's sister contacted police after he told her about his plan. She did not know the bomb was fake.

The man, from Heilongjiang province, was then arrested for endangering public security.

Bus and taxi drivers on strike over fine hike

COLOMBO • Sri Lanka's private bus operators and taxi drivers stopped work yesterday in protest against government plans for a 50-fold increase in traffic fines to curb the rising number of road accidents.

Operators of about 6,000 privately owned buses went on strike over the proposal to raise the average traffic fine of 500 rupees to 25,000 rupees (S$240).

Many taxi drivers and rickshaw drivers are also on strike.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE