IN BRIEF

United Kingdom

Govt seeks to tackle acid attacks

Britain will look at tougher punishments for people who attack others using acid, interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday, after a spate of incidents in London in recent months. Five acid attacks on moped riders in less than 90 minutes across east London on Thursday left several people with facial burns. The announcement came as figures from the National Police Chiefs' Council show that more than 400 acid or corrosive substance attacks were carried out in the six months up to April across police force areas in England and Wales.

Afghanistan

Civilian deaths hit new high, UN says

The people of the war-torn country continue to bear the brunt of the grinding conflict with civilian deaths at their worst since records began, the United Nations said on Monday. Deaths in the capital Kabul accounted for nearly 20 percent of the toll, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report, which covers the first half of the year. The majority of the victims were killed by anti-government forces, including the Taliban and the Islamic State.

Canada

Fires drive thousands from their homes

Forest fires caused by strong winds have been sweeping over the province of British Columbia in western Canada for more than a week, forcing thousands of people to evacuate. The government has declared a state of emergency to deal with the situation since July 7. Currently, 3,000 firefighters and 203 aircraft are involved in battling the fires, while this operation has cost the government more than $80 million.

Myanmar

Doctors separate conjoined twin boys

Doctors have successfully performed a surgery to separate conjoined twins at the Children's Hospital in Yangon, an official report said on Monday. The operation was carried out on Sunday on the twins - Sa Hkam and Sa Ngin, who were born in Kengtung, eastern Shan state two years ago. The boys were joined at the navel. It was the sixth surgical operation on conjoined twins at the hospital.

Egypt

Man dies in raid on land squatters

A man was killed and dozens others were wounded on Sunday in clashes between policemen and squatters on state land at a district in Giza near Cairo, officials and witnesses said. "A citizen was killed and 19 other civilians were injured in clashes between residents and policemen during a campaign to remove the encroachments on state-owned lands at Giza's Warraq island in the Nile River," the Health Ministry said in a statement. The ministry sent 15 ambulances to the scene that took the injured people to nearby hospitals.

United States

Rare sword from Civil War-era found

The sword that belonged to the commanding officer of the first all-black regiment raised in the North during the Civil War has been recovered after being lost to history for more than 150 years. The British-made sword carried into battle by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw was stolen after he was killed during the 54th Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry's doomed attack on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, in 1863, a battle portrayed in the 1989 Oscar-winning movie Glory.