short takes
N Korea jails 2 S Korean spies
AFP, SEOUL: North Korea yesterday sentenced two South Korean men to hard labour for life on espionage and other charges, state media reported, rejecting repeated calls by Seoul to release them.
The Norths Supreme Court handed down life sentences on charges of spying for South Koreas intelligence agency, said Pyongyangs official Korean Central News Agency. The two, identified as Kim Kuk-Gi and Choe Chun-Gil, were also found guilty of trying to topple the communist regime, it said.
The Souths Unification Ministry expressed strong regret and said it cannot accept the Norths unilateral ruling.
6 Syrian refugees drown off Turkey
AFP, ANKARA: Six Syrian migrants were killed and dozens more rescued yesterday when their overloaded boat capsized off Turkeys Aegean coast while on its way to Greece, the Dogan news agency reported.
The migrants were seeking to reach the Greek island of Kos and enter the European Union when their boat hit trouble in stormy weather before dawn on Tuesday after leaving the Turkish resort of Bodrum. The corpses of six migrants were found and the other passengers on the boat, which was carrying 62 people, were rescued by the Turkish coast guard.
Cholera claims 18 in S Sudan
AFP, JUBA: At least 18 people have died of cholera in war-torn South Sudan, the health ministry said yesterday, as it declared an outbreak of the highly contagious infection.
The outbreak began in crowded United Nations bases in the capital Juba where tens of thousands of people have been sheltering for the 18-month long civil war, with cases reported elsewhere in the city, Minster of Health Riek Gai Kok told reporters. Some 140 people died in an outbreak last year.
