Thai King undergoes another operation

BANGKOK • Doctors treating Thailand's ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej have performed a procedure to reduce a new build-up of water on the brain, the palace said yesterday. It was the latest in a series of procedures for the 88-year-old, who uses a wheelchair and is rarely seen in public.

The King has spent most of the past two years hospitalised in Bangkok for a series of ailments.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

500 liquor shops to close in Indian state

NEW DELHI • Five hundred liquor shops in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu have been ordered to close starting yesterday after its newly re-elected government pledged to ban alcohol to curb violence and other problems.

The Tamil Nadu government issued a statement ordering the closures as part of staggered plans to become the latest state in India to introduce prohibition.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Johor police arrest gang of car thieves

KULAI • Malaysian police have busted a car theft gang following the arrest of seven people between June 15 and 17 and the seizure of vehicles worth about RM 1 million (S$330,000).

A total of seven people including two women were arrested in the operation. The syndicate targeted vehicles parked in shopping complexes and other public places.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Former Chinese UN ambassador dies

WUHAN • Retired Chinese diplomat Wu Jianmin, one of the most influential prominent figures in China's foreign policy, has died at age 77, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

Mr Wu died in a car accident in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Saturday. He had worked as an interpreter for former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, and was China's ambassador to France, the Netherlands and the United Nations.