IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Syria

Rebel infighting displaces 60,000

Fighting between al-Qaida's Syrian branch and a splinter group in eastern Syria has forced more than 60,000 people to flee their homes, emptied villages and killed scores of fighters, a monitoring group said. Infighting among rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad has undermined the three-year-old uprising against his rule and killed thousands of people since the start of the year.

Saudi Arabia

First US case of MERS confirmed

A healthcare worker who had traveled to Saudi Arabia was confirmed as the first US case of Middle East Respiratory Virus, an often fatal illness, raising new concerns about the rapid spread of such diseases, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The male patient traveled via a British Airways flight on April 24 from Riyadh to London, where he changed flights at Heathrow Airport to fly to the United States.

South Korea

President visits kin of victims

South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Sunday told families of those missing in a sunken ferry that her heart breaks knowing what they are going through. Park met with some 50 relatives in Paengmok port on Jindo, an island near where the ferry sank on April 16 with 476 people aboard, most of them students from a single high school. With eight bodies recovered on Sunday, the death toll reached 244 with 58 still missing while 174 survived, including 22 of the 29 crew members.

Yemen

Govt vows to fight terrorism

Yemen's army is continuing an offensive against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in the south and has advanced on key fronts, military sources said on Sunday. The Defense Ministry said the army has been targeting hideouts and sites of al-Qaida insurgents and killed dozens of militants including two foreign leaders named as Abu Islam from Chechnya and Abu Muslim from Uzbekistan.

Iraq

19 slain as pilgrims targeted

Militants have attacked a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims north of Baghdad, killing 11 people, while a family of eight was shot dead south of the capital, Iraqi officials said on Sunday. The bloodshed late on Saturday comes as votes are counted from the Wednesday general election, the first since US troops withdrew in late 2011.

UAE

UN chief urges climate change

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday he was hopeful that a goal of limiting global temperature rises to a maximum of 2 C could be achieved, but he urged governments to take practical action before it was too late.

Reuters-AP-Xinhua-AFP

(China Daily 05/05/2014 page11)