IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Spain

PM and Catalan leaders meet

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the leader of the economically powerful Catalonia region held a crucial face-to-face meeting on Wednesday in what could be a last chance to resolve a bitter dispute over the region's plans to hold a secession referendum in November. The closed-door session follows months of clamor by political parties and business groups for the two to sit down and try to come up with a roadmap to prevent the dispute from boiling over.

Guinea

24 die in concert stampede

At least 24 people were killed in a stampede at a beachside concert celebrating the end of Ramadan in Guinea's capital, with Guinea's presidency declaring a week of mourning after what it described as a "tragic drama". A statement from the presidency said the incident occurred at a beach in the Ratoma neighborhood of the capital, Conakry.

Turkey

11 more police officers arrested

Turkey's state-run news agency said an Istanbul court has ordered 11 more police officers formally arrested and jailed pending trial for allegedly illegally wiretapping Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials. The Anadolu Agency said the officers were jailed early on Wednesday, raising the number of officers formally detained for illegal wiretaps to 31.

Libya

French nationals to be evacuated

France temporarily closed its embassy in Libya on Wednesday and is evacuating its nationals there due to the worsening security situation, the French Foreign Ministry said. "We have taken all necessary measures to allow those French nationals who so wish to leave the country temporarily," the ministry said in a statement, not detailing the number of nationals involved.

United States

Movie studio sorry for poster

Paramount Pictures apologized on Wednesday for a poster for its upcoming film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, showing the four characters jumping down from an exploding skyscraper underscored with a Sept 11 release date. The poster went out in a tweet posted by the Australian Paramount Pictures Twitter account and also appeared on its official Facebook page, which has more than 6 million fans.

South Africa

Govt extradites German priest

A German Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse of children in his native country and in South Africa has been extradited to Germany, police said on Wednesday. Georg Kerkhoff, who is in his 50s, was put on a plane to Germany on Tuesday night, South African police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini said.

Reuters-AP-AFP

(China Daily 07/31/2014 page12)