IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Syria

Rebels demand blacklist removal

Al-Qaida-linked rebels in Syria who are holding more than 40 United Nations peacekeepers from Fiji hostage in the Golan Heights are demanding they be expunged from a UN terror blacklist, Fiji said on Tuesday. The Pacific nation's army chief, Mosese Tikoitoga, said the rebels also want humanitarian aid sent to a small town that is an al-Nusra Front stronghold just outside Damascus. They are also seeking compensation for three of their fighters who were wounded in recent days.

Lesotho

Tension thwarts leader's return

Lesotho's exiled prime minister delayed a planned return on Tuesday to his country as gunfights rekindled tensions in the mountain kingdom after an apparent coup. Aides to Tom Thabane told AFP that security concerns could delay plans for the embattled 75-year-old to return from neighboring South Africa.

Egypt

9 die in military human stampede

Nine people were killed on Tuesday in a stampede at a military institute in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya, an Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement. Relatives of the students had crowded at the facility's gate at an institute for noncommissioned army officers in Tel El-Kebir, spokesman Mohamed Samir said. Five others were wounded in the accident and were transferred to nearby hospitals.

France

Muslim worker banned from site

A French court upheld a ban on Monday on a Muslim engineer's access to nuclear sites, citing his links with jihadist networks, but his lawyer said it was a case of Islamophobia. The 29-year-old, working for a firm subcontracted by energy giant EDF, had been granted access to nuclear installations as part of his job throughout 2012 and 2013. But in March 2014, the man, who cannot be named according to French law, had his pass to enter the Nogent-sur-Seine nuclear power station revoked.

Saudi Arabia

Pipeline set on fire after shots

A small fire erupted on a gas pipeline in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province on Tuesday after unidentified assailants shot at a security patrol, Saudi security and oil industry sources said. The pipeline has been repaired and there was no effect on oil or gas production, the sources said, but the incident marks the first confirmed attack since 2006 on physical energy infrastructure within the boundaries of the world's largest oil exporter.

Reuters - AFP - AP

(China Daily 09/03/2014 page12)