100 MISSING AS BANGLADESH BOAT SINKS
DHAKA: Around 100 people are missing after another boat carrying Rohingya refugees towards Malaysia sank off Bangladesh early Wednesday, the second such tragedy in less than a fortnight, officials said.

Bangladesh Border Guard commander Lieutenant Colonel Zahid Hasan said the vessel was carrying around 110 passengers when it went down off around 15 kilometers off the southern Cox’s Bazaar coastal district. Hasan said “11 survivors were rescued with the help of local fishermen and a search and rescue operation is underway.”

IRAN HANGS 10 CONVICTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS
TEHRAN: Iran executed 10 drug traffickers in a prison in Tehran on Wednesday, a statement on the website of the prosecutor’s office said. The men sent to the gallows were convicted of trafficking “hundreds of kilos” of narcotics, the statement said. Iran, where murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are punishable by death, is among countries with the highest annual record of executions in the world, along with China, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Two weeks ago, an announcement by Iran that it had hanged 10 convicted drug traffickers prompted expressions of concern from the United Nations and the European Union

Clashes, mortars, bomb attack rock Damascus
BEIRUT: Fierce clashes, shelling and a bomb attack rocked Damascus on Wednesday, a watchdog said, as violence moved increasingly from the suburbs into districts of the Syrian capital. A car bomb exploded overnight in the southern Qadam neighborhood, causing at least one death, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog. In the Mazzeh district, home to many embassies and offices of the security services, three civilians were killed and 12 wounded from mortar fire. Rebel fighters, meanwhile, clashed with pro-regime Palestinian forces in the southern Hajar al-Aswad district and the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmuk, which has become a new focal point of violence. Home to some 148,000 residents, the camp has been the scene of fierce fighting between the rebels and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad.

SOUTH INDIA FLOODS KILLS 45
HYDERABAD: The death toll from floods in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has reached 45, officials said on Wednesday, amid continuing efforts to provide relief to marooned villagers. Downpours triggered by a cyclone that hit the coast further south last week have left hundreds of villages inundated and nearly 70,000 people in relief camps set up across the state for stranded people. At least 45 people have died and 1,300 houses have been damaged by the flooding, a state government official said. Although flood water was receding, remote villages in the Godavari region and two other coastal districts continued to reel from the devastating rains. Officials said they were trying to provide relief to flooded villages and restore rail and road traffic. Standing paddy and cotton crops also suffered extensive damage due to the unseasonal rainfall.

PAKISTAN SUICIDE ATTACK KILLS SIX
PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber blew himself up in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Wednesday, killing at least six people including a senior police officer, officials said. The blast ripped through a congested part of the city, which lies close to Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas and is frequently hit by bombings, littering the street with blood and body parts, witnesses said. Police official Badshah Khan said the bomber, who was on foot, targeted the vehicle of senior investigator Hilal Haider, killing him and a number of his colleagues. Another officer, Asif Iqbal, said there were six dead including four policemen. Hospital officials and senior administration official Habibullah Arif said more than 30 people were wounded in the blast and some were in a critical condition. AFP