IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Malaysia

Dutch join hunt for Flight 370

A second ship was preparing to join the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in a remote patch of the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, as Malaysia's defense minister expressed confidence the plane will be found. The Fugro Discovery was scheduled to arrive in the search zone about 1,800 kilometers west of Australia on Wednesday, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.

Mexico

Soldiers killed at least 12 people

Mexican soldiers executed at least a dozen people who surrendered after a gunfight between troops and suspected criminals in June, a government human rights official said on Tuesday. The extrajudicial killings accounted for most of the 22 deaths recorded in connection with the incident, which occurred in Tlatlaya on June 30, said Raul Plascencia, head of the National Human Rights Commission.

United Nations

15 states to sit on rights panel

The UN General Assembly on Tuesday elected 15 member states, including Albania, Bolivia, India, Ghana, Nigeria and Portugal, to the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year term beginning Jan 1. The other elected new members are Bangladesh, Botswana, the Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Indonesia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Paraguay and Qatar.

Russia

Gas to Ukraine should flow soon

Ukraine should be able to find ways to pay for Russian gas supplies within a week, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday, suggesting the resources standoff would end once Moscow received financial guarantees from Kiev. The latest round of gas talks between the two sides ended late on Tuesday in Brussels with no agreement in a dispute that prompted Russia to cut off gas supplies to its neighbor in mid-June.

Hungary

Internet users reject online tax

Hungarian users of the Internet, including activist groups and opposition parties, rejected a government plan to impose a heavy tax on Internet use starting next year. The tax, which is included in the 2015 budget plan, would force Internet service providers to pay 150 forints ($0.62) per gigabyte of data downloaded or uploaded by users.

United Kingdom

Man faked coma to avoid court

A fraudster who pretended to be quadriplegic and sometimes comatose for two years to avoid prosecution has been convicted after police caught him on camera driving and strolling around supermarkets.

Prosecutors say Alan Knight stole more than 40,000 pounds ($64,000) from an elderly neighbor with Alzheimer's disease.

AFP - Xinhua - Reuters - AP

(China Daily 10/23/2014 page11)