World Vignettes — Monument for Gurkhas in Britain

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II has unveiled the first public monument in Britain to the Gurkhas, the legendary Nepalese soldiers who have fough...

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II has unveiled the first public monument in Britain to the Gurkhas, the legendary Nepalese soldiers who have fought under the British flag for more than 180 years. The bronze statue of a Gurkha soldier which stands in White Hall, London’s ministerial headquarters, is designed as a permanent memorial to honour “the bravest of the brave.” Prince Philip and the Prince of Wales accompanied the Queen at the unveiling ceremony on Wednesday. The bulk of the 3,500-strong brigade of Gurkhas is now based in Britain where they have been absorbed as infantrymen, mechanics, signallers and musicians in regiments across southern England.

Killer shot

ALTOONA (Pennsylvania): A 7-year-old American boy found a key to his parents’ locked gun cabinet, pulled out a loaded rifle thinking it was a toy and accidentally shot his two-year-old playmate to death. Karissa Miller died instantly when the rifle’s sole bullet struck her in the abdomen on Tuesday night. The boy’s family was baby-sitting for Karissa. She and the boy had gone off to play when he spotted a key jutting over the edge of the 6-foot gun cabinet, authorities said.

Rare falcons

BEIJING: Beijing customs officials have arrested a tourist from Bangladesh who tried to smuggle 32 rare falcons out of China. This is the fourth case involving smuggling of falcons that has been smashed since September, with the total number of falcons reaching 94. Hossain, the arrested Bangladeshi citizen, reportedly put the falcons in four suitcases. Six falcons had died of suffocation when the cases were opened by the customs officers at the airport. Falcons, a rare species, is under state protection in China.

World treasures

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ROME: UNESCO has added the ancient Roman town of Pompeii to its list of sites of “outstanding universal value” and warned that many wonders of the world were at risk.

Besides Pompeii, the Paris-based agency’s World Heritage Committee approved the addition of 45 other sites to the list, lifting the total number of protected treasures to 552. Pompelii, buried by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, provides one of the best windows on everyday life in ancient Rome.

New capital

MOSCOW: Akmola will officially become the capital of Kazakhstan from December 10, the country’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said. Speaking before heads of diplomatic missions in capital Alma-Ata, as well as deputy foreign ministers of 12 Asian states, he said by that date, parliament and the government would have to move for Akmola, while the presidential staff had already moved on November 8.