News In Brief

Koreas agree on talks on family reunions
Afp, Seoul

North and South Korea yesterday agreed in principle to hold talks on restarting a family reunion programme, as separate discussions on reopening a jointly-run industrial estate failed to make progress.
Hundreds of thousands of family members have been separated since the 1950-53 war and the last temporary reunions took place in 2010.

MPs recall Murdoch over phone-hacking
Reuters, London

British lawmakers said on Tuesday they would recall media mogul Rupert Murdoch to clarify evidence he gave to them last year after he was secretly recorded belittling a police inquiry into alleged crimes committed by journalists on his papers.
In a meeting with staff on his mass-selling Sun tabloid, Murdoch said he regretted helping a police inquiry into phone-hacking.

Flood toll rises to 116 in Uttar Pradesh
Ians, Lucknow

The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh has worsened following heavy rains, and officials said yesterday that 116 people have died in the disaster in the past fortnight.
Ten districts have been severely hit by flooding. Sharda, Ghaghra and Saryu rivers are flowing above the danger mark in several districts. Heavy rains were continuing in many places till filing this report.
Myanmar jails four Muslims for riot
Afp, Yangon

Four Muslim men have been jailed for murder following religious violence in central Myanmar in March that left dozens dead, an official said yesterday.
The defendants were given sentences of between seven years and life imprisonment for their part in the deadly rioting in the town of Meiktila that mainly targeted Muslims and spread elsewhere in the Buddhist-dominated country.

Ireland set to pass abortion law
Afp, Dublin

Irish lawmakers are set to introduce abortion in limited cases where the mother's life is at risk, when controversial new laws go to a final vote yesterday night. The predominantly Catholic nation's abortion laws faced global scrutiny after the death of 31-year-old Indian woman Savita Halappanavar in a Galway hospital last October.

Ban names new UN Women chief
Afp, New York City

UN leader Ban Ki-moon yesterday named former South African vice president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as head of the UN Women agency.
Mlambo-Ngcuka, 58, takes the place of Michelle Bachelet who left the new agency this year to enter the Chilean presidential election campaign.