IN BRIEF (Page 12)

United Nations

Attack on Somali hotel condemned

The UN Security Council condemned on Wednesday "in the strongest terms" a deadly terrorist attack on a hotel in Somalia, saying that "any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable regardless of their motivation". A suicide bomber in Somalia rammed a car packed full of explosives into a hotel in the southern town on Tuesday, killing several people, days after it was recaptured from al-Shabab fighters, in an attack claimed by the armed group.

United States

House jammed with immigrants

Police uncovered a house crammed with more than 100 suspected illegal immigrants from central and south America in what appeared to be a human smuggling ring in Houston on Wednesday, local media reported. Police found people literally sitting on top of one another in a small single-family house south of Houston on Wednesday, The Houston Chronicle reported.

India

Writer, editor Singh dies at 99

Khushwant Singh, a force in India's literary world for more than 60 years, has died at his New Delhi home, his daughter said. He was 99. Singh, a Sikh, came to prominence after India got independence from Britain in 1947. He was a lawyer-turned-diplomat-turned-writer. He was editor of several literary and news magazines, including the Illustrated Weekly of India, The Hindustan Times and The National Herald, through the 1970s and 1980s. He received the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award.

Spain

4 missing in helicopter crash

Spain's Air Force said rescue units are searching for four members missing after their helicopter plunged into the sea off the Canary Islands. The Air Force said on its Twitter account that the search was resumed at first light on Thursday. The helicopter, part of the Air Force's marine rescue service, crashed into the sea late on Wednesday while flying some 40 km south of Fuerteventura island, off northwest Africa. One crew member was rescued.

Mali

40 Islamists killed in raid

French soldiers have killed about 40 Islamist fighters, including some senior commanders, in Mali in recent weeks, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday. "We have conducted operations over the past weeks," he said, adding that "about 40" fighters had been killed including "Ould Hamaha, a historic leader of AQIM", or al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Xinhua-AP-Reuters

(China Daily 03/21/2014 page12)