IN BRIEF (Page 12)

The Netherlands

Bird flu found at poultry farm

A poultry farm in the central Dutch village of Hekendorp is being cleared and a local ban has been imposed on transporting poultry after the discovery of avian influenza, Dutch authorities said in a statement late on Saturday. The government said the 150,000 birds kept at the farm were not free range and were being destroyed in accordance with European rules on avian influenza. Authorities gave no details of what strain of bird flu had been found.

Israel

Official rejects building limits

Israel will never agree to limit its construction activity in annexed East Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday. "One thing should be clear: We will never accept the definition of building in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem as settlement activity," he said at a news conference with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. "We won't accept any limitation on building in Jewish areas of (East) Jerusalem," he said.

Afghanistan

MP survives bomb attack

A suicide bomber on Sunday attacked a vehicle convoy carrying Afghan lawmakers including a prominent female MP, killing three civilians and injuring 22 others, officials said. The blast, in which the attacker detonated an explosives-packed car, left the MPs' vehicles badly damaged on a main road in the west of Kabul, close to the Parliament. "(Shukria) Barakzai - she is fine and suffered minor injuries," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.

Turkey

'Muslims found the Americas'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that the Americas were discovered by Muslims in the 12th century, nearly three centuries before Christopher Columbus set foot there. "Contacts between Latin America and Islam date back to the 12th century. Muslims discovered America in 1178, not Christopher Columbus," the president said. "Muslim sailors arrived in America from 1178. Columbus mentioned the existence of a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast."

Germany

Family feud kills man, wounds 7

Police say a man angered by a family feud has set off explosives outside his house in Germany, killing himself and wounding seven people in a small village. Police spokesman Thomas Rodemer said that following an argument inside his home in Homberg, a village in Hesse state, the 49-year-old man drove away in his car, then returned and blew himself up inside the vehicle parked outside the house.

AFP - AP - Reuters

(China Daily 11/17/2014 page12)