IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Climate change threatens Great Barrier Reef

Climate change remains the most serious threat to the Great Barrier Reef, and the outlook for the natural wonder is "poor", an Australian government report has warned.

Hollywood screen icon Bacall dies at age 89

Lauren Bacall was a movie star from almost her first moment on the silver screen.

Cuba celebrates Fidel Castro's 88th birthday

Celebrations started in Cuba on Tuesday to mark the birthday of the nation's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who turned 88 on Wednesday.

Iranian-born female professor wins top math prize

Iranian-born mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani on Wednesday became the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal, mathematics' equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

African technology finds foothold in European market

Africans have long used technology developed abroad, but now a Kenyan cash transfer network that bypasses banks is being adopted in Europe.

Ex-kamikaze pilots decry militarism

Kamikaze pilot Yutaka Kanbe should have died nearly seven decades ago.

Afghan presidential candidate questions power-sharing deal

Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani cast fresh doubt over a deal to share power with his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, on Tuesday, saying the accord was ambiguous and needed clarification.

Gaza truce talks push into third day as midnight deadline looms

Indirect negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis for a truce in Gaza resumed on Wednesday, a Palestinian official said, as the clock ticked toward the midnight expiration of a three-day halt to hostilities.

Venezuela ships humanitarian aid

Venezuela shipped on Tuesday an initial 12 metric tons of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians affected by Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Venezuelan News Agency said.

ROK stresses need for talks with DPRK

The Republic of Korea's presidential office stressed on Wednesday the need for discussing arms control and military trust-building with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to lay the groundwork for discussing a peace framework on the Korean Peninsula when conditions become ripe.

130 more US troops in Iraq to 'assess' situation

Another 130 US troops arrived in Iraq on Tuesday on what the Pentagon described as a temporary mission to assess the scope of the humanitarian crisis facing thousands of displaced Iraqi civilians trapped on Sinjar Mountain and evaluate options for getting them out.