Briefs, January 15, 2013
Thousands of Shiites from Pakistan's minority Hazara community ended a nearly four-day protest after the government caved into their demands for protection by sacking the provincial government. Men, women and children spent four nights camped in freezing conditions, refusing to bury the victims of Pakistan's worst single attack on Shiites, which killed 92 people in the southwestern city of Quetta in Baluchistan province last Thursday. They had demanded that the army take over, but relented after the governor was appointed.
QUETTA - Thousands of Shiites from Pakistan's minority Hazara community ended a nearly four-day protest after the government caved into their demands for protection by sacking the provincial government. Men, women and children spent four nights camped in freezing conditions, refusing to bury the victims of Pakistan's worst single attack on Shiites, which killed 92 people in the southwestern city of Quetta in Baluchistan province last Thursday. They had demanded that the army take over, but relented after the governor was appointed. AFP
SINGAPORE - A Singaporean pastor was charged with having sex with a 15-year-old girl who belonged to his congregation, police said. identified him as a 45-year-old father of three. His name was withheld in order to protect the identity of the girl with whom he allegedly had intercourse in a public park and oral sex inside the church premises in 2011, according to the report. AFP
PHNOM PENH - Judges at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge war crimes court suspended proceedings as one of the three former regime leaders on trial for alleged atrocities was taken to hospital. "Brother No2" Nuon Chea, 86, was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with "acute bronchitis". Nuon Chea and two other top former communist leaders deny charges including war crimes and genocide during a regime blamed for the deaths of up to two million people. AFP
BANGKOK - Thailand arrested and pledged to deport more than 150 Myanmar Rohingya migrants discovered in a hidden camp near the country's southern border with Malaysia, police said. The 71 men and 85 women and children were found on a rubber plantation in Songkhla Province, four days after some 400 Rohingya were discovered in another raid in the province. Rights groups decry Thailand for failing to help Rohingya migrants who reach its territory, pushing them back to Myanmar or neighbouring countries. AFP
