Rain fells section of the Great Wall Beijing: Four days of rain has felled a section of the Great Wall of China in northern Hebei province,state-run Xinhua reported Thursday. Strong currents of water from the mountains crushed the Dajingmen section of the wall ,an official with the Qiaoxi district said. China typhoon kills 5,millions evacuated Beijing: Five persons were killed and several injured as typhoon Haikui wrecked havoc in eastern China,forcing millions to evacuate. More than two lakh people were evacuated from the commercial hub of Shanghai alone. Haikui is the third typhoon to wallop China's eastern coast in a week. Cambodia PM speaks to parliament for 5 hrs PHNOM PENH: Asias longest serving ruler has set a personal record for his longest speech: 5 hours and 20 minutes. PM Hun Sen,who has ruled Cambodia for27 years,spoke to the parliament in a televised speech that was mandatory viewing for all civil servants. Hun,61,spoke without breaks,mostly on border disputes with Vietnam. Mali Islamists cut off alleged thiefs hand Bamako: Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa,an Islamist group controlling northern Mali has chopped off the hand of man for allegedly stealing a motorbike. Adnan Abou Walid Saharaoui,the group's spokesman,said the amputation was carried out Wednesday at Ansongo. Helicopter crashes in Turkey,kills 5 ANKARA: A helicopter crashed while battling a wildfire in southwestern Turkey on Thursday,killing all its crew two Turks and three Russians officials said. The helicopter was leased from Russia. Egypt scribes protest editors appointment CAIRO: Several journalists left their columns blank to protest appointment by Parliament of 50 new editors,many of them known for their Islamist views,for state-owned papers. Instead of their pieces in Thursdays editions of independent newspapers,the columnists wrote short notes explaining their protest and denouncing what they called the Brotherhoods attempt to control the state-owned press. The upper house of Parliament,the Shura Council,owns the state press,including flagship publications Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar. Didnt issue death threat to Imran: Taliban Islamabad: The Pakistani Taliban Thursday refuted reports they had threatened to kill cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan if he held a march to Waziristan,and blamed a Western news agency The Associated Press for falsely reporting the threat. The Taliban,however,made it clear they had no love for Khan,whom they view as a liberal. Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesperson Ihsanullah Ihsan claimed a reporter of the news agency interviewed him and then added the death threat himself while bypassing the norms of journalism. Assad appoints PM BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad has appointed health minister Wael Nader al-Halqi as new prime minister in place of Riad Hijab,who defected to Jordan earlier this week,state-run news agency SANA said. Halqi is a member of the ruling Baath party and hails from Daraa,birthplace of the Syrian uprising.
