AFP, Aden
Twin bombings targeting the Yemeni army in second city Aden on Monday killed at least 41 people, most of them would-be recruits, a military official said.
A suicide bomber killed 34 people queueing up to enlist at recruitment centre near the Badr base in the Khormaksar district, said Brigadier General Nasser al-Sarei, commander of special security forces.
China plans base station in South China Sea
Reuters, Beijing
A Chinese government bureau is planning a base station for an advanced rescue ship in the disputed Spratly Islands, state media reported on Monday, as China continues its push to develop civilian and military infrastructure in the contentious region.
The ship, which would carry drones and underwater robots, is set to be deployed in the second half of the year, said Chen Xingguang, political commissar of the ship, which is under the South China Sea Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, according to the official China Daily.
Tajikistan vote allows president to rule indefinitely
AP, Tajikistan
People in the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan have voted overwhelmingly to approve changes to the Constitution allowing the authoritarian president to rule indefinitely.
Elections officials said Monday that an initial count showed 94.5 percent of voters had supported amendments that included a provision to scrap presidential term limits.
Fire at school in Thailand kills 18
AFP, Bangkok
Seventeen girls died after a fire swept through the dormitory of a school for children of hill tribes in northern Thailand, officials said Monday, with a survivor describing fleeing as flames engulfed the building.
The fire started late Sunday night, meaning many of the children at the school run by a Christian charity were asleep as flames spread through the two-storey wooden building.
“The fire broke out at 11 pm on Sunday (1600 GMT). Seventeen girls were killed, with five injured,” Colonel Prayad Singsin of the police in the town of Chiang Rai told AFP.
Two of the injured are in a serious condition, he said, but initial fears that two more girls were missing had been discounted after rescuers picked through the charred debris.
