IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Japan

DPRK to meet on abductions

Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will hold talks on Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese citizens, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Wednesday. The two sides held a three-day meeting in Sweden last month. After that, Japan agreed to lift some of its sanctions on the DPRK, including those pertaining to human travel, wire transfers and vessels entering ports in Japan, when the DPRK fully launches probes of all abduction victims.

United States

States carry out executions

The states of Georgia and Missouri have carried out America's first executions since a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma in April revived concerns about capital punishment. Marcus Wellons, 59, received a lethal injection late Tuesday in Jackson, Georgia, after last-minute appeals to the US Supreme Court were denied. A corrections official said Wellons was pronounced dead at 11:56 pm. The execution seemed to go smoothly with no noticeable complications. Wellons' execution came about an hour before that of inmate John Winfield in Missouri, and a third execution is scheduled for Wednesday night in Florida.

Saudi Arabia

Forces searching for Israeli teens

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his forces are searching for the three Israeli teens missing in the West Bank and criticized their abductors. Abbas told Muslim and Arab leaders gathered in Saudi Arabia that those who abducted the three "want to destroy us". He did not elaborate, but appeared to be referring to his government.

Ireland

Judge nixes NSA probe demand

An Irish judge rejected on Wednesday an attempt by campaigners to force an investigation into Facebook's alleged sharing of data from EU users with the US National Security Agency. High Court Justice Gerard Hogan, who has jurisdiction because Facebook's European headquarters are based in Dublin, upheld an earlier decision by the country's data protection commissioner to refuse to investigate.

Iraq

40 Indians abducted

Forty Indian construction workers have been kidnapped in Iraq's second largest city of Mosul, which fell to Sunni insurgents last week, India's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The identity of the kidnappers and the whereabouts of the workers are unknown, foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. No ransom demand has been received. Islamist militants have long considered India a target.

Xinhua-AP-Reuters

(China Daily 06/19/2014 page11)