IN BRIEF (Page 11)

India

Danish tourist gang-raped

Police were questioning a group of men on Wednesday after a Danish tourist said she was robbed and then gang-raped in the heart of the Indian capital's tourist district, putting sexual violence in India again into the spotlight. Police said the 51-year-old tourist reported she was raped in the Paharganj district, a popular tourist area packed with backpacker hotels and restaurants near a New Delhi railway station.

United Kingdom

Freud's ashes targeted in heist

Police are hunting for burglars who tried to steal the ashes of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud from a London crematorium. The Metropolitan Police force says a 2,300-year-old Greek urn containing the remains of Freud and his wife, Martha, was severely damaged in a break-in at Golders Green Crematorium on Dec 31 or Jan 1.

Italy

Mafia boss to teach prison law

A former Italian mafia boss serving a life sentence will teach a course on prison law for practicing lawyers, with classes to be held in the remote facility where he is being held in Sardinia. "Marcello Dall'Anna has completely changed since the days when he was a leader of the Sacra Corona Unita" mafia in southern Italy, said Monica Murru, a lawyer who has been helping him organize the course. "He has distanced himself from his past," she said.

Israel

Turkey OK on missile shield

Turkey has accepted assurances a planned NATO missile defense system in which it is playing a part is not designed to protect Israel as well, Alexander Vershbow, NATO's deputy secretary-general said on Wednesday. He said objections by Ankara had resulted in part from confusion about a Turkish-hosted NATO radar. Ankara had been further assuaged by alliance Patriot anti-missile batteries assigned to protect its territory from Syria.

Russia

3 special forces officers killed

Three Russian special forces officers were killed Wednesday in a security operation against suspected insurgents in the volatile North Caucasus, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said. Russia has stepped up security ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics next month amid fears of a possible attack organized by insurgents from the North Caucasus.

South Africa

Protester dies after 'pushed'

A South African protester has died after he was allegedly pushed from a moving police van during violent demonstrations, the police minister said on Wednesday. The 27-year-old died "allegedly after being pushed through a moving police nyala", Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa said, referring to the armored vehicle in a statement.

AP-Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 01/16/2014 page11)