IN BRIEF (Page 11)

United States

Black rhino hunt permit draws ire

A permit to hunt a black rhino in Namibia sold for $350,000 at an auction in Dallas on Saturday with proceeds going to protect the endangered animals despite protests from animal rights groups that saw the sale as immoral conservation. The license allows for the killing of a single, post-breeding bull.

Libya

Deputy minister killed in attack

Gunmen killed Libya's Deputy Industry Minister Hassan al-Drowi late on Saturday as he was visiting shops in the coastal city of Sirte, official sources said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but two years after the fall of Muammar Gadhafi, Libya is struggling with militias and former rebel fighters.

Iraq

Blasts claim at least 14 people

A car bomb targeting army recruits killed at least eight people in Baghdad on Sunday, while six died in other blasts in the Iraqi capital, security and medical officials said. Recruits gathered at a taxi and bus station in the Allawi area of Baghdad bore the brunt of the blast, which also wounded at least 12 people.

Russia

5 arrested after bomb defused

Five members of a banned militant group were arrested in southern Russia on Saturday and a homemade bomb packed with shrapnel was defused, in another security scare weeks before the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Islamist militants have threatened to attack the games, and suicide bombers killed at least 34 people last month in Volgograd, also in southern Russia.

Spain

Protesters rally for ETA prisoners

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Bilbao in Spain's northern Basque Country on Saturday in support of jailed members of the Basque separatist group ETA, defying a court ban from Madrid. A high court judge had vetoed the march, which was initially organized by prisoners' supporters to call for inmates to be moved to jails closer to their homes.

Central African Republic

President flies into exile

The Central African Republic's president, Michel Djotodia, flew into exile in Benin on Saturday and a new interim team started the process of identifying leaders who might restore order to a nation gripped by months of inter-religious violence. The United Nations called for calm and stepped up flights out for foreigners. Governments of other African countries have evacuated nearly 30,000 of their citizens caught up in the violence.

Reuters-AP-AFP

(China Daily 01/13/2014 page11)