Curfew, strike in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, June 30: A strict curfew was enforced for the second day Tuesday in two northern towns in Indian Kashmir after two protesters were killed in police firing, officials said. The young demonstrators were killed Monday in the town of Baramulla, 55 kilometres north of the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar, while protesting against the alleged harassment of a Muslim woman by police. The shootings brought thousands more on to the streets in protests that spread to the neighbouring town of Sopore, prompting the district authorities to impose curfews in both towns. — AFP

UN chief urged to meet Suu

Kyi on Myanmar visit

YANGON, June 30: UN chief Ban Ki-moon must meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits military-ruled Myammar this week if he hopes to make real progress towards democratic reform, her party has said. The world body announced late Monday that secretary general Ban would visit Myanmar Friday and Saturday for talks with the ruling junta on the release of all political prisoners, including the Nobel Peace laureate. —AFP

Haiti president's party picks

up five Senate seats

PORT-AU-PRINCE, June 30: President Rene Preval's party won five of 11 contests to fill open Senate seats, according to preliminary results released Monday by the provisional electoral council. Five other parties won one seat each in the June 21 run-off elections, and another went to a registered independent. A twelfth seat remains vacant after voting in the April first round was canceled in the central plateau region after political violence. The result was a good one for Preval, giving his Lespwa party 12 seats in the 30-member body, including the nonvoting presidency. —AP

Suspected rebels kill family of four in India

GAUHATI, June 30: Suspected militants used automatic weapons and machetes to kill a family of four migrant workers Tuesday in India's insurgency-hit northeast. The attackers killed the family - a husband, wife and their two children - by opening fire then hacking them with machetes on the outskirts of Rangapahar, a town north of the capital of Assam state. —AP

Quake jolts Sichuan province,

damaging houses

BEIJING, June 30: A small earthquake Tuesday damaged thousands of houses in China's Sichuan province, where an 8.0 magnitude quake last year killed more than 80,000 people. Nearly 9,000 houses and parts of local roads were damaged in the earthquake in Mianzhu, north of Chengdu, China National Radio reported on its website. No casualties were reported. The US Geological Survey put the size of the quake at magnitude 5.1 and a depth 22 miles). — Reuters