IN BRIEF (Page 12)

DPRK

Parliamentary vote kicks off

Parliamentary elections started on Sunday morning throughout the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to choose members of the top legislature in the country. Eligible voters went to polling stations in different electoral districts to cast their votes for members of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly, who will serve a five-year term in accordance with the DPRK constitution.

Iraq

Checkpointbomb kills 18

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged minibus at a crowded checkpoint near Baghdad on Sunday, killing 18 people. Iraq has been hit by a yearlong surge in bloodletting that has reached levels not seen since 2008, driven principally by widespread discontent among its Sunni Arab minority and the civil war in Syria.

Israel

Army unloads weapons ship

The Israeli army worked on Sunday to unload a ship allegedly intercepted in the Red Sea with a cargo of weapons being transported from Iran to Gaza. An AFP correspondent said dozens of containers from the Panamanian-flagged Klos-C were being unloaded and transferred on trucks to a nearby navy base.

India

Election costs hit new high

Indian politicians are expected to spend around $5 billion on campaigning for national elections next month - a sum second only to the most expensive US presidential campaign of all time. India's campaign spend, including multimillion-dollar ad campaigns, has been estimated at 300 billion rupees ($4.9 billion) by the Centre for Media Studies, which tracks spending.

Qatar

Gulf pundits quit Doha jobs

Saudi and Emirati pundits have quit major media outlets in Qatar, including the broadcaster of top-flight European soccer, as tensions soar between Doha and Gulf states. Saudi columnist Samar al-Mogren, who writes for Al-Arab Qatari daily, tweeted on Sunday that the "Saudi ministry of culture and information has decided to end the collaboration of Saudi writers with Qatari newspapers."

Syria

Journalist shot dead in clashes

A Syrian journalist has been killed covering clashes between government forces and opposition fighters in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, a regional broadcaster said. Beirut-based Al Mayadeen said on its website that its cameraman Omar Abdelqader was shot in the neck on Saturday and was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly afterward.

Xinhua-Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 03/10/2014 page12)