IN BRIEF (Page 11)

France

Airstrikes target IS militants

Joining US forces in Iraqi skies, France conducted its first airstrikes on Friday against the militant Islamic State group, destroying a logistics depot that it controlled, Iraqi and French officials said. Rafale fighter jets accompanied by support planes struck the depot in northern Iraq on Friday morning. Iraq's military spokesman said four French airstrikes had killed dozens of extremist fighters. "Other operations will follow in the coming days," the French president's office said.

3 students hit by gunfire

Three French teens on a school trip to a town renowned for its basilica have been wounded by gunfire, with one of them seriously injured. The education minister said all three students were hospitalized after the shooting on Friday morning in the town of Vezelay, in the Burgundy region, 230 kilometers southeast of Paris. A statement by Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the three wounded students were 16 and 17 years old. The circumstances of the shooting - or whether the students were targeted or just bystanders - was not immediately clear.

Yemen

Fighting forces halt to flights

International airlines have suspended flights to Yemen's capital, as fighting between rebels seeking greater political clout and Islamists backed by the army encroaches on the country's main airport, authorities said. Yemeni television's three channels stopped transmitting on Friday after the state broadcaster's studios in the Jraf area near the airport came under fierce fire overnight, an official there said. The northern area of the capital, Sanaa, where the airport is located, was the scene of fierce clashes on Thursday in which nearly 40 people on both sides were killed.

India

Modi: Al-Qaida has no appeal

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said al-Qaida is "delusional" if it believes it holds any appeal for India's large Muslim population. Earlier this month, the head of the extremist group, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said it had created an Indian branch that would bring Islamic rule to the entire subcontinent. Modi told CNN that Indian Muslims would live and die for India. Muslims constitute about 13 percent of India's population of nearly 1.2 billion. The country has largely seen itself as beyond the recruiting territory of international jihadist groups.

Russia

Moscow ready to cooperate

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia is ready to cooperate with the West despite efforts to isolate Moscow with economic sanctions. The United States and the European Union last week imposed a new round of sanctions against Russia in connection with the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Russia in August introduced an import food ban against some foodstuffs from the EU and the US.

AP - AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 09/20/2014 page11)