Armed group attack
YANGON: A policeman and 18 civilians were killed in Myanmar’s eastern Shan State yesterday when an ethnic armed group attacked a town, said government spokesperson Zaw Htay.
Thirty-two people, including 27 civilians, three policemen and two paramilitary troops, were injured in the attack led by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army on Muse town, a major border crossing with China, he added.
Of the 18 civilians killed, 16 were men and two women.
The TNLA claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on Facebook.
UK soldiers to Gabon
LONDON: British soldiers have been deployed to Gabon to help stop elephant poachers funding Islamic State.
Thousands of the animals have been slaughtered in the rain forests and their ivory sold to raise money for Is-linked jihadists.
More than a dozen soldiers from 2nd Battalion The Rifles were sent last month to train rangers, or “eco guards”, in skills such as intelligence and patrolling.
Gabon loses up to 5 000 forest elephants a year to poaching.
Britons kidnapped
BENI: Congolese soldiers and park rangers have launched an operation to locate two British tourists kidnapped in the volatile eastern borderlands, an army spokesman said.
Unidentified armed men ambushed the group on Friday north of Goma, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, inside Virunga National Park. One park ranger was killed during the incident in Africa’s oldest national park and three were abducted.
Terror attack foiled
MOSCOW: A top Russian diplomat says Russian intelligence foiled a terror attack on this week’s Victory Day memorial march.
About one million people marched through central Moscow on Wednesday in the annual Immortal Regiment rally, carrying pictures of family members killed in World War II.
President Vladimir Putin and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined the march on May 9, the day when Russia marks the end of the war.
Ruslan in the squad
MOSCOW: Russia announced its preliminary World Cup squad on Friday and included a player who was investigated by Fifa over alleged doping.
Defender Ruslan Kambolov was investigated after a World Antidoping Agency report alleged that doping cases in the World Cup host nation were covered up as part of a wider conspiracy in dozens of sports.
Lawyers for Kambolov said last month that his case was closed for lack of evidence.
Education investment
NEW YORK: A campaign to raise $10billion to ensure that every child gets a secondary school education by 2030 received support on Friday from the UN chief, global and regional banks, and 11.5million young people who are calling for the biggest education investment in history.
UN Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown says 260 million children are not attending school.
Bangladesh satellite
CAPE CANAVERAL: Spacex lifted Bangladesh’s first satellite into orbit on Friday using an upgraded rocket designed for dozens of repeat flights including back-toback, same-day launches.
Spacex chief executive Elon Musk said launching the same rocket twice within 24 hours would be “crazy hard”, but he hopes to pull off the feat as early as next year.
Record treasure sale
NEW YORK: Peggy and David Rockefeller’s lavish artworks and other treasures set a new world record this week at Christie’s, topping $800 million (R9.8billion) as the priciest single-owner collection yet sold.
That’s about twice the previous record of $484m from a 2009
Paris sale of designer Yves Saint Laurent’s estate.
Reuters/ap/dpa/african News Agency/ana