News in Brief

Thai protesters occupy finance ministry
Afp, Bangkok

 
Thai opposition demonstrators yesterday stormed the finance ministry and threatened to seize more government buildings in a dramatic escalation of their efforts to topple embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The turmoil has raised fears of a fresh bout of street violence in a country that has been convulsed by several episodes of political unrest since royalist generals overthrew Thaksin in a coup in 2006.

German anger over spying taken seriously
Afp, Berlin

 
The United States is taking a German outcry over revelations of American spying on Europeans seriously, a US lawmaker has said, ahead of his visit to Berlin yesterday to soothe frazzled ties.
Congressman Gregory Meeks told Handelsblatt business daily that US-German relations were "of enormous importance" and must be stronger and closer still.

Indian couple guilty in sensational double murder trial
Afp, Ghaziabad

 
An Indian court yesterday found a prosperous dentist couple guilty of slitting the throats of their teenage daughter and a servant in a murder trial that has obsessed India for five years.
Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were convicted of killing Aarushi, 14, and 45-year-old Nepalese employee Hemraj Banjade supposedly using a dental scalpel at their home in an affluent New Delhi suburb in 2008.