Cairo protesters clash with troops: witnesses

CAIRO: Egyptian soldiers charged at protesters outside the cabinet’s offices on Friday, breaking up a sit-in after the demonstrators threw petrol bombs and set fire to furniture in front of the nearby parliament. Several people were wounded, and soldiers arrested at least one protester in the worst violence in Cairo since five days of bloody protests in November killed more than 40 people. The clashes, which had raged since dawn, started after a bloodied protester said he had been arrested by soldiers and beaten up, infuriating his comrades who began throwing stones at the soldiers, witnesses said. The troops responded by firing shots in the air and using water cannon, before throwing stones back at the protesters from the...

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Death toll from India toxic liquor rises to 155

KOLKATA: The death toll from a mass poisoning in eastern India caused by toxic home-brewed alcohol rose to 155 on Friday, as police made more arrests in the case. “We now have 155 confirmed dead,” Shyamapada Basak, health services director of West Bengal state told AFP. Another 160 people were critically ill in local hospitals. Police said they had arrested another two people, taking the number detained to 12 over the past two days. “We are now looking for the kingpin of the racket involving the sale of illicit, spurious liquor in the district,” West Bengal police additional director general, Surojit Kar Purokayastha said. The victims are from 10 villages in an area near West Bengal’s border with Bangladesh. Many were labourers...

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US Senate passes defence bill, targets Pakistan aid

WASHINGTON: The US Senate passed a $662 billion defence bill Thursday that also freezes some Pakistan aid, imposes sanctions on Iran’s central bank, and approves the indefinite imprisonment of suspected terrorists. The Democrat-led Senate voted 86-13 for the Defence Authorisation bill, which was passed Wednesday by the House. President Barack Obama was expected to sign it as early as this weekend after dropping a veto threat. The measure, which also sets high hurdles for closing Guantanamo Bay, had drawn fire from civil liberties groups that strongly criticised its de facto embrace of holding alleged extremists without charge until the end of the “war on terrorism,” which was declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Obama,...

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