News In Brief

India SC order curbs on acid sales
Afp, New Delhi

India's top court yesterday ruled that authorities must regulate the sale of acid used in a spate of attacks on women by jilted boyfriends and others.
In an interim judgement, the court said each victim should be paid 300,000 rupees as well as have medical costs covered, pending a final ruling on the level of compensation.
Earlier this month, the same court had rebuked the central government for failing to formulate a policy to reduce the number of acid attacks on women.

US heat wave kills 6
Cnn Online

Heat in the Northeast USA has taken at least six lives, health officials said yesterday. Five have died in Maryland over the course of the summer of heat-related causes; one man died last week in New York.
A heat wave has been hanging over the northeast and the Midwest since early this week, driving up the heat index over 100 degrees in many places.

Militants kill cop in Sinai
Afp, Cairo

Gunmen shot dead a policeman on Wednesday in El-Arish, in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula, medical sources said.
The militants opened fire on the police conscript who was standing outside a police station in north Sinai's main town, hitting him in the neck before fleeing in their vehicle.
This latest deadly attack in the increasingly lawless region, home to Egypt's luxury Red Sea resorts, came as Egyptian troops massed for an offensive against Islamist militants there.

S Sudan fighting affects 100,000
Afp, Juba

Over 100,000 South Sudanese civilians are cut off from aid in the eastern state of Jonglei amid fierce fighting between rival ethnic groups, aid agencies and the United Nations warned Wednesday.
Thousands of heavily armed gunmen from rival ethnic groups have been fighting for almost two weeks in the impoverished region, while government troops and UN peacekeepers have said their forces are unable to intervene as they would be overwhelmed.

Guinea violence death toll hits 50
Afp, Conakry

The bodies of 54 people burned alive or hacked to death in ethnic clashes in the west African state of Guinea have been identified, a medic said on Wednesday, indicating that the death toll would continue to rise.
The violence broke out in the southern forest region early Monday when petrol station guards from the Guerze tribe in the town of Koule beat to death an ethnic Konianke youth they had accused of stealing.