News in Brief

Multiple quakes rattle northeast China
Afp, Beijing

 
Multiple earthquakes hit northeast China yesterday, with a 5.5 magnitude the strongest among them causing serious damage to homes.More than 58,000 people were affected by the quakes, with 16,094 evacuated and more than 18,000 homes damaged, Jilin province communications office said on its official weibo microblog account. Some villages lost power, according to Xinhua news agency.

Tamil poet arrested  in Sri Lanka
Pti, Colombo

 
Norwegian Tamil poet and actor VIS Jeyapalan has been arrested in Sri Lanka for violating visa regulations.
Jaffna-born Jeyapalan, 79, who was in Sri Lanka on a tourist visa, was arrested on Friday at Mankulam in the country's north, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said. “He was reported to have taken part in gatherings aimed at causing communal unrest,” Rohana said.

Mauritania votes despite wide boycott
Afp, Nouakchott

 
Mauritanians yesterday voted in nationwide elections overshadowed by a widespread boycott of opposition parties, with all eyes on the performance of an Islamist party allowed to take part for the first time.
The mainly-Muslim republic, a former French colony on the west coast of the Sahara desert, is seen by the West as strategically important in the fight against al-Qaeda-linked groups within its own borders, as well in neighbouring Mali and across Africa's Sahel region.

Avalanche kills seven in Japan
Afp, Dtokyo

 
Seven people died after being hit by an avalanche yesterday on a mountain in Japan's central Toyama prefecture, local police said.
The seven -- four men and three women -- were climbing or skiing when the avalanche, an estimated 30 metres wide and 600 metres long, hit on a western slope of the 2,860-metre-high Mt Masago, police said.

Man killed by shark in Australia
Afp, Sydney

 
A surfer was killed by a shark in Western Australia yesterday when the animal attacked him after bouncing off the surfboard of another man, police said.
Sharks are common in Australian waters but deadly attacks are rare, with only one of the average 15 incidents a year typically proving fatal.