IN BRIEF (Page 12)

China

Nation, Australia talk rights issues

China is willing to continue cooperation with Australia in human rights issues, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Baodong said on Thursday. Li made the remarks after the 15th round of the China-Australia Human Rights Dialogue concluded in Beijing. Li and Gillian Bird, Australian deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, exchanged views on topics including ethnic groups, ties in judicial aid and joint action within UN framework.

Libya

5 polling stations struck by blasts

Explosions rocked five polling stations in eastern Libya on Thursday as voters began electing a body to draft a new constitution, another step in the OPEC producer's rocky transition since former leader Muammar Gadhafi was deposed in 2011. Nobody was wounded in the dawn bomb attacks in Derna, residents said, but the incident highlighted the volatile situation in the country.

Italy

Sicilian Mafia assets seized

Italian police seized business assets worth 250 million euros ($343 million) in a major operation against the Sicilian Mafia on Thursday. The regional anti-mafia prosecutor's office in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, said all confiscated assets belonged to five people allegedly linked to the powerful Galatolo clan, which is believed to have full control over the city's fruit and vegetable market.

Singapore

2 senior officials sentenced

Singapore imposed prison sentences on Thursday on two senior civil servants embroiled in corruption scandals. Lim Cheng Hoe, 61, the former head of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was sentenced to 15 months for inflating expenses for thousands of dollars' worth of pineapple tarts and wine bought as gifts for dignitaries. Separately, Edwin Yeo Seow Hiong, 40, an assistant director at the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau, was sentenced to 10 years for misappropriating $1.4 million worth of government funds.

Germany

3 Auschwitz suspects jailed

German prosecutors have arrested three men on suspicion they served as guards at the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp. Stuttgart prosecutors' spokeswoman Claudia Krauth said on Thursday the three men, aged 88, 92 and 94, were all taken to a prison hospital, where they will be held as the investigation continues.

Reuters-Xinhua-AP

(China Daily 02/21/2014 page12)