World Briefs: Cambodia jails activist for plot against govt

PHNOM PENH • A Cambodian activist has been imprisoned for five years for plotting to overthrow the government, a court said yesterday, bringing to 17 the number of administration opponents detained or convicted since late July.

Pen Mom, 39, was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiring with self-exiled opposition party founder Sam Rainsy to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen's government last year, the court in the southern province of Kampot said.

REUTERS

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Large fire breaks out at Beirut's port

BEIRUT • A store of oil and tyres at Beirut's port burst into flames yesterday, a little more than a month after a massive blast devastated the port and surrounding residential areas of the Lebanese capital.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. The army said the cause of the blaze was not yet known and that it was sending helicopters to help bring the fire under control.

The blaze erupted in the duty-free zone of the port, sending a huge column of smoke above a city still traumatised by the explosion on Aug 4 that killed about 190 people and injured 6,000.

REUTERS

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Surge in kidnapping, piracy in Asian waters

WASHINGTON • Piracy and other crimes have surged in Asian waters in the first seven months of the year, despite the coronavirus pandemic.

Many were committed by the Philippines-based Islamist Abu Sayyaf group, said a report by Babel Street, a US data analysis company.

There were at least 50 incidents of piracy, armed robbery and kidnapping for profit in Asian waters during that period, most of them in the Sulu Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

REUTERS