IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Hungary

Orban retains his majority

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban retained his controlling two-thirds majority in the National Assembly following last week's election, a final ballot count revealed early on Sunday, giving him free legislative rein for the next four years. The result was based on 99.99 percent of votes counted by the national election office, state news agency MTI said.

Guinea-Bissau

Nation votes for president

Guinea-Bissau held watershed elections on Sunday for a president and National Assembly expected to usher in a new dawn of stability in a country plagued by drugs and upended by a military coup. The polls cap four decades of chaos marked by a series of mutinies since the West African nation won independence from Portugal, and commentators have called for the new regime to finally bring the military into line.

Yemen

Two soldiers die in ambush

Yemen's Interior Ministry said suspected al-Qaida militants ambushed troops from the country's special forces, killing two soldiers and wounding five others. The ministry said the troops were ambushed on Saturday after returning to their base in Bayda province, south of the capital, Sanaa. The wounded were taken to a hospital there.

Afghanistan

13 Taliban militants held

Up to 13 Taliban militants were arrested in military raids over a 24-hour period in Kabul, Kandahar and Logar provinces, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday. In addition, the Afghan National Police found and defused 11 roadside bombs and landmines planted recently by the Taliban in the country's seven provinces, the ministry said.

Iran

Court overturns death sentence

Iran's Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence handed to a former US Marine convicted of espionage, with the penalty being cut to 10 years in prison, media reported on Sunday. Amir Hekmati, a dual US-Iranian citizen, was arrested in August 2011, put on trial and found guilty of spying for the CIA. In January 2012, he was sentenced to death.

Pakistan

90 tribesmen released

A Pakistani government official said militants have released more than 90 tribesmen they abducted from a tribal festival in the northwest, but still hold seven influential men. Arshad Khan said on Sunday that tribal elders negotiated the release after the gunmen seized about 100 tribesmen in Orakzai and Khyber tribal regions on Saturday. Paramilitary troops had begun a search operation in the area.

AFP-Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 04/14/2014 page11)