IN BRIEF (Page 11)

United States

House approves 'clean' debt limit

The US House of Representatives narrowly approved a one-year extension of federal borrowing authority on Tuesday after Republicans caved into President Barack Obama's demands to allow a debt limit increase without any conditions. The 221-201 vote was mainly carried by Democrats.

Thailand

Court refusesto annul election

Thailand's Constitutional Court on Wednesday rejected a request by the main opposition party to annul a controversial election disrupted by anti-government protests. The court said in a statement it had declined to consider the petition by a Democrat Party lawyer to nullify the Feb 2 vote because there were insufficient grounds.

South Korea

Seoul to importIranian crude

South Korea is set to become the second Asian nation, after Japan, to make a payment to Iran for crude oil imports under an interim nuclear deal that has provided limited sanctions relief, banking sources said on Wednesday. Under a Nov 24 agreement with six major powers, Iran won access to $4.2 billion of its oil revenues frozen abroad if it carried out its part of the deal to curb its nuclear program.

Egypt

Gunmen kill 3 police officers

Three Egyptian policemen were killed on Wednesday by gunmen in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, northeast of the capital Cairo, official news agency MENA reported. The militants shot randomly at a security patrol vehicle monitoring the road between Suez and Ismailia provinces.

Reuters-AP-Xinhua-AFP

(China Daily 02/13/2014 page11)