IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Turkey

Erdogan sworn in as president

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken the oath of office as Turkey's first directly elected president, a position that will keep him in the nation's driving seat for at least another five years. Erdogan is scheduled to appoint Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, his designated successor as prime minister and loyal ally, to form a new government later on Thursday. Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics for a decade and won Turkey's first direct presidential elections on Aug 10.

Peru

Record 6 tons of cocaine seized

Peruvian police seized a record 6 metric tons of cocaine on Sunday from a Mexican drug cartel operating in the country, in what authorities hailed as a major setback for organized crime. The stack of cocaine was found hidden in a shipment of coal in the Peruvian city of Trujillo and was to have been moved on to Spain and Belgium. Two Mexicans and seven Peruvians have been arrested so far in the six-week operation.

ROK

Joint exercise with US ends

The Republic of Korea and the United States ended a joint military exercise on Thursday, a day earlier than scheduled, in what appeared to calm the anger of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The exercise, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, was wrapped up successfully, the Combined Forces Command said. The DPRK had denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for invasion.

Japan

1st dengue fever cases in 70 years

Japanese health officials said on Thursday that three young people have contracted dengue fever, the first such infections in the country in nearly 70 years. The three are suspected of having contracted the disease when they were bitten by mosquitoes in Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo, officials said. None of them is in a life-threatening condition, officials said.

Reuters - AFP - Xinhua

(China Daily 08/29/2014 page11)