IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Sri Lanka

War crimes probe opposed

Sri Lanka's parliament rejected an investigation on Wednesday by the United Nations human rights body into alleged crimes during the island nation's civil war that ended five years ago. Ruling coalition lawmakers overwhelmingly voted for a motion that says such a probe "should not be carried out on the ground that such a course of action is detrimental to the process of reconciliation and peace and that it erodes the sovereignty, dignity and stature of Sri Lanka".

Pakistan

23 local, Uzbek militants killed

The Pakistani army said on Thursday that 23 more foreign and local terrorists were killed in North Waziristan tribal region as the security forces continued their major offensive. An army statement said that 15 terrorists were killed in Zartatangi mountain heights of Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, by army gunship helicopters late on Wednesday when spotted. In a separate sniper action, eight Uzbeks were killed around Miranshah while planting improvised explosive devices on the road linking Miranshah with Mirali, amain town in the tribal agency. Mirali is considered as the major hideout of the foreign militants.

Australia

No boat people for half a year

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday he was "very satisfied" as Australia marked six months since the last asylum-seeker boat arrival, but warned it was not yet "mission accomplished". Abbott's conservative government came into power in September vowing to stop the flood of asylum-seekers arriving on rickety boats from its Southeast Asian neighbors, with hundreds of people dying en route.

Mexico

31 bodies found in mass grave

The bodies of 31 people, some mutilated, have been exhumed from a mass grave in Veracruz, a stronghold of the Zetas, one of Mexico's most bloodthirsty cartels, a military official said. The bodies were found on Monday at an abandoned ranch by members of an army patrol. The motive for the killings is not known. Some of the victims had been in the grave for more than a month, said Arturo Herrera, a prosecutor in Veracruz.

Malaysia

Sunken boat was overloaded

The boat that sank off Malaysia with 97 Indonesian illegal migrants was likely carrying three times more passengers than it could safely transport, authorities said on Thursday as they expanded a search for 26 still missing. Nine bodies have been found after the vessel, overloaded with people heading home to Indonesia for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, sank early on Wednesday not far from shore off western Malaysia.

(China Daily 06/20/2014 page11)