IN BRIEF (Page 12)

China Daily | Updated: 2014-01-15 07:21

South Sudan

200 drown in ferry accident

At least 200 South Sudanese civilians drowned on Tuesday in a ferry accident on the White Nile river while fleeing fresh fighting in the city of Malakal, an army spokesman said. "The reports we have are of between 200 to 300 people, including women and children. The boat was overloaded," army spokesman Philip Aguer said. "They all drowned. They were fleeing the fighting that broke out again in Malakal."

Mexico

Vigilantes urged to end battle

Mexico's government urged vigilantes on Monday to quit their growing armed struggle against a drug cartel and go home, saying federal forces will handle security in their embattled western towns. Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong made his plea after "self-defense" forces seized another town in the troubled western state of Michoacan, gaining ground in their struggle against the Knights Templar gang.

Brazil

Police probed in revenge killings

At least 12 young men were gunned down in separate incidents within hours of one another on the gritty outskirts of a university town, and investigators said Monday they're looking into whether police officers carried out the killings as revenge for the shooting death of a colleague in the same area. The wave of killings began Sunday night and continued into early Monday in Campinas, a city of 1 million people known as the hub of Brazil's tech industry.

AFP-AP-Reuters

(China Daily 01/15/2014 page12)