IN BRIEF (Page 12)

China

Beijing rejects Hanoi charge

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying rejected an accusation by Vietnam on Wednesday that Chinese officers improperly boarded and damaged a fishing boat and beat several fishermen. Reports of the incident involving the Vietnamese boat near China's Xisha Islands - which are also claimed by Vietnam - in the South China Sea were "incompatible with fact", Hua said. The Vietnamese boat approached the islands on Aug 15 to fish illegally using dynamite. Chinese law-enforcement personnel boarded the boat for inspection and confiscated the explosives, Hua said.

Pakistan

65 Taliban fighters killed

Pakistani warplanes struck five militant hideouts in a Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border on Wednesday, killing 65 insurgents, the military said. The strikes, carried out in two phases hours apart, targeted areas in the North Waziristan tribal region, where the military has been conducting a major offensive since mid-June, the army said. The strikes came a day after the Taliban took credit for a weekend attack on a navy dock on the other side of the country, in Karachi.

Australia

Former PM denies fraud

Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard denied on Wednesday any wrongdoing regarding a fund used for allegedly fraudulent purposes as she was grilled at an inquiry looking into union corruption. Gillard, who was ousted as Labor leader last year, has long been dogged by her actions in helping create the fund set up by her former boyfriend, Australian Workers Union official Bruce Wilson.

AP-Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 09/11/2014 page12)