IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Bangladesh

Owner of sunken ferry arrested

Security officials in Bangladesh have arrested the owner of a ferry that sank earlier this month with more than 100 people dead or missing. Abu Bakar Siddique, the owner, went into hiding after the overloaded ferry M.V. Pinak sank on Aug 4. He faces charges of culpable homicide, unauthorized operation and overloading. Forty-eight bodies have been recovered so far and about 60 others remain missing and are presumed dead.

Japan

Russian naval drills protested

Japan lodged a "stern" protest with Russia on Wednesday over military exercises that are being held on the disputed Kuril Islands, the Japanese foreign ministry said. Moscow launched drills on Tuesday on the long-contested islands, which are located off Russia's far eastern coast and just north of Japan. The exercises are "extremely regrettable," said a foreign ministry spokesman.

Indonesia

US woman dead; 2 arrested

The body of a 62-year-old US woman was found stuffed inside a suitcase on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, and authorities on Wednesday arrested her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend in relation to the death, police said. The suitcase containing Sheila von Wiese-Mack's body was found on Tuesday inside the trunk of a taxi parked in front of the St. Regis Bali Resort in the island's upscale Nusa Dua area, said Djoko Hari Utomo, the police chief in Bali's capital, Denpasar.

The Philippines

Scores hurt as train rams barrier

A Philippine commuter train rammed through a concrete barrier at the end of the rail line and rolled into a busy intersection on Wednesday, injuring scores of passengers and damaging vehicles, officials said. Rescuers removed dozens of injured people from the train's front car after the accident in Pasay city in metropolitan Manila. Many suffered fractures and bruises, hospital officials said, but there were no reports of any deaths from the accident, which caused a huge traffic jam.

Yemen

14 people killed in bomb blast

About 14 people, including three explosive experts, were killed and 16 others injured when a bomb they were trying to defuse went off in Yemen's southern province of Lahj on Wednesday, a security official said. "An improvised explosive device planted in the main street went off at the scene, killing about 11 citizens and three explosive experts," the local security official said on condition of anonymity. Just an hour after the explosion, army troops and police exchanged fire with unknown attackers at the bombing site.

AP-AFP-Xinhua

(China Daily 08/14/2014 page12)