Iraq

Car bombs claim at least 43 lives

At least 43 people were killed in car bomb explosions targeting Shiite Muslims in Bagdad and Basra on Monday, police and medics said. About 150 people have been killed in sectarian violence over the past week and tensions between Shiites, who now lead Iraq, and minority Sunni Muslims have reached their highest level since US troops pulled out in December 2011.

Pakistan

Former leader granted bail

A Pakistani court granted bail on Monday to former president Pervez Musharraf who has been under house arrest on charges of failing to provide adequate security for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before her assassination in 2007. Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, returned to Pakistan in March after nearly four years of self-imposed exile.

Turkey

Balloon crash kills 2 tourists

A Brazilian and a Spanish tourist died on Monday and 23 other people were hurt after two hot-air balloons collided in a scenic area in central Turkey, officials said. The accident occurred over Cappadocia's sculpted rock formations when one balloon collided with the basket of another balloon and crashed to the ground, the governor of Nevsehir province told Anatolia News Agency.

Cambodia

Bridge collapse injures workers

A bridge collapse near a factory in Cambodia injured 24 workers on Monday in the latest accident to expose safety problems in Asia's garment industry. Thor Veng Nai, a local official in the Phnom Penh suburb where the garment plant is located, said that when the concrete bridge collapsed, it pulled down a wooden terrace behind the factory.

Chile

Strong quake strikes off coast

A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, but Chilean emergency authorities said they saw no prospect that the tremor would generate a tsunami. The quake struck 640 km west of Puerto Aisen at a depth of 10 km, the USGS said.

Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 05/21/2013 page10)