News In Brief

EU fails to bring Ukraine closer to West
Afp, Vilnius

The European Union suffered a setback in its bid to draw ex-Soviet states into the Western fold when jewel-in-the-crown Ukraine refused to sign a landmark political and trade deal years in the making.
Ukraine's snub despite massive pro-EU protests on its streets highlighted a worsening EU-Russia tug-of-war over former Soviet satellites in eastern Europe.

New Pak army chief takes command
Afp, Rawalpindi

General Raheel Sharif yesterday formally took over as the head of Pakistan's army, the most powerful position in the troubled military-dominated nation which is battling a homegrown Taliban insurgency.
Sharif, named chief of the army staff on Wednesday, took charge from predecessor General Ashfaq Kayani at a ceremony at military headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Hong Kong ferry accident hurts 87
Afp, Hong Kong

A high-speed ferry travelling from Hong Kong to Macau collided with an "unidentified object" yesterday, injuring 87 people and raising new concerns over maritime safety a year after a ferry crash claimed 39 lives.
In the latest accident, the double-deck hydrofoil "Madeira" carrying 105 passengers and 10 crew hit "an unidentifiable object" around 1:15am near one of Hong Kong's small outlying islands.

Drone strikes Pakistan
Afp, Miranshah

A US drone strike targeting a militant compound killed at least three suspected insurgents in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border yesterday, officials said.
The identities of those killed in the strike were not immediately known but they appeared to be of Central Asian origin, the official said.

Rockets fired near US base in Japan
afp, Tokyo
Improvised rocket launchers were fired close to a US airbase near Tokyo, police and the American military said yesterday, with suspicions falling on one of Japan's small ultra-leftist groups.
No-one was hurt and no damage was done in the incident, which media reported came just hours after the arrest of a senior member of a radical faction, and followed a pattern seen four years earlier.