News in Brief (2022-05-28)

Geetanjali Shree is first Indian winner of Int'l Booker Prize
NEW DELHI, May 27: Geetanjali Shree has become the first Indian writer to win the International Booker Prize. Her novel Tomb of Sand, a family saga set in the shadow of the partition of India, follows an 80-year-old woman after the death of her husband. It was the first Hindi-language book to be shortlisted for the £50,000 prize. "I never dreamt of the Booker, I never thought I could," Ms Shree said. "What a huge recognition. I'm amazed, delighted, honoured and humbled." In her acceptance speech, quoted by the Press Trust of India, she said being the first book in Hindi to win the prize felt good. "Behind me and this book lies a rich and flourishing literary tradition in Hindi, and in other South Asian languages. World literature will be the richer for knowing some of the finest writers in these languages," she said. — BBC
6.1-magnitude quake strikes off East Timor
DILI (East Timor), May 27: A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of East Timor on Friday, the US Geological Survey said, although there were no immediate reports of damage. A tsunami advisory group said the quake "may be capable of generating a tsunami affecting the Indian Ocean region". The USGS said the quake struck at a depth of 51.4 kilometres (32 miles) off the eastern tip of Timor Island, which is split between East Timor and Indonesia. — AFP
Canada police shoot man in Toronto seen with rifle near school
MONTREAL, May 27: Police in Canada's largest city Toronto on Thursday fatally shot a man armed with a rifle, local media reported, in an incident that forced several schools into lockdown just two days after a deadly assault on a US primary school. Bystanders alerted police to the man's presence in an eastern neighborhood of Toronto, and the circumstances of what transpired next were not immediately clear. But city police chief James Ramer told reporters that the suspect, described as a man in his late teens or early 20s, was dead after he had "confronted" responding officers, without elaborating. — Arab News