IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Afghanistan

Flash floods kill at least 81

More than 80 bodies have been found two days after a devastating flash flood in Afghanistan's mountainous remote north, a provincial official said on Sunday, as police and villagers scoured the rugged terrain for missing people and army helicopters flew in supplies to thousands left homeless by the disaster. The local police chief said the death toll from Friday's flash flooding had climbed to 81 from 54.

Ukraine

Firm hires Biden's son

US Vice-President Joe Biden's visit on Saturday to support Ukraine's fragile democracy came soon after his youngest son was hired by a private Ukrainian company that promotes energy independence from Moscow. The hiring of Hunter Biden, 44, by Burisma Holdings Limited in April was approved by the company's owner, a former senior minister and political ally of Viktor Yanukovych, the exiled Ukrainian president.

Germany

US soldier says he was tortured

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has told people treating him at a US military medical facility in Germany that he was tortured, beaten and held in a cage by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape, a senior US official said on Sunday. The unnamed official said it was difficult to verify the accounts Bergdahl has given.

Egypt

Sisi sworn in as president

Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in as president of Egypt on Sunday in a ceremony with low-key attendance by Western allies concerned by a crackdown on dissent since he ousted Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi last year. Officials said Sisi won with 97 percent of last month's vote.

AP-Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 06/09/2014 page12)