IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Turkey

Police seal off scene of protests

Police sealed off a flashpoint Istanbul park on Sunday after firing tear gas and water cannon to dislodge thousands of protesters in a night of violence that sent tensions soaring in Turkey's relentless anti-government unrest. Riot police were still sporadically clashing with pockets of protesters in streets near Gezi Park as tens of thousands of supporters of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan began gathering for a rally 10 km away.

Iraq

Coordinated attacks kill 32

A string of nearly a dozen apparently coordinated bombs and a shooting in cities across Iraq killed at least 32 and wounded dozens on Sunday, extending a wave of violence that is raising fears of a return to widespread killing a decade after the US-led invasion. Violence has spiked sharply in Iraq in recent months, with the death toll rising to levels not seen since 2008.

Mexico

Quake causes power outages

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook central Mexico early on Sunday, sparking panic in the capital and some power cuts but no major damage or casualties were reported. The quake struck just after midnight (local time), east of the city of Huitzuco in Guerrero state, at a depth of about 50 km, according to Mexico's National Seismological Service and the US Geological Survey.

South Africa

Mandela still in serious condition

Nelson Mandela continues to recover in a hospital from a lung infection but remains in serious condition, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday. Mandela has been in a Pretoria hospital for a week, the fourth time the 94-year-old former president and anti-Apartheid leader has been admitted to hospital since December.

Kuwait

Court dissolves Parliament

Kuwait's top court on Sunday ordered the dissolution of Parliament and called for fresh elections, officials in the US-allied Gulf Arab said. The Constitutional Court made its ruling after throwing out an opposition challenge to changes to the electoral system decreed by the emir, hereditary ruler of the oil-exporting country, head judge Youssef al-Mutawa told reporters.

United States

Crews gaining ground on wildfire

Crews battling a deadly wildfire that is the most destructive on record in Colorado have contained more than half of the 6,275-hectare blaze that has incinerated nearly 500 homes outside Colorado Springs, authorities said on Saturday. Cooler temperatures, calmer winds and a rainstorm that moved over the burn area on Friday allowed fire managers to increase the containment of the fire to 55 percent from 30 percent the day before.

AFP -AP

(China Daily 06/17/2013 page11)