China's Xinjiang ban burqas in public
Afp, Beijing

Authorities in the capital of the mainly Muslim Uighur homeland of Xinjiang voted to ban the wearing of burqas in public, media said yesterday, as China confronts unrest with tough measures that critics have labelled discriminatory. The local legislature of Urumqi on Wednesday "considered and adopted 'Regulations for the banning of wearing of burqas in public areas in Urumqi'", the Sina web news portal said.

US okays sanctions on Venezuela
Afp, Washington

The US Congress gave its final approval Wednesday to new sanctions against Venezuelan officials accused of violating the human rights of anti-government protestors this year.
Thousands of activists were arrested and more than 43 people were killed during mass demonstrations against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, the elected successor of late strongman Hugo Chavez, which raged from February to May.

Buddhist party leader backs Rajapaksa
The Hindu Online

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa regained momentum in his bid for a third term with another leading politician abandoning the opposition to join his campaign yesterday.
Udaya Gammanpila, a top official from the Buddhist nationalist National Heritage Party, defected from the opposition to become the third leading politician to support Rajapaksa in the Jan 8 election.
Rajapaksa faces his former health minister and ruling party No. 2 Maithripala Sirisena. Sirisena led a revolt in Rajapaksa's ruling coalition, taking with him 11 ministers and lawmakers.

Dutch identify foreign MH17 crash victims
Afp, The Hague

Dutch authorities have identified two more victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in Ukraine, with just four of the 298 dead still unidentified, all of them Dutch, officials said yesterday.
"Two victims of flight MH17 have been identified this week," the Dutch justice ministry ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan detains 58 Indian fishermen
Afp, Karachi

Pakistani marine forces yesterday arrested 58 Indian fishermen for allegedly violating territorial waters in the Arabian Sea, police said.
"The Maritime Security Agency arrested 58 Indian fishermen," senior police officer Shiraz Nazir told AFP, adding that the authorities also seized 11 boats.
"They (Indian fishermen) have been handed over to police," he said. The agency had arrested 61 Indian fishermen for allegedly violating territorial waters in November.