IN BRIEF (Page 11)

South Korea

11 more bodies found in sea

Fishermen recovered 11 more bodies from the western Bering Sea on Wednesday near where a South Korean fishing ship sank earlier this week. The bodies appear to be from the ship lost on Monday in waters near Russia, according to an official from the country's Foreign Ministry who didn't want to be named, citing office rules. One body was recovered on Monday, and seven fishermen were rescued. More than 50 disappeared when the ship sank on Monday.

Cigarette price hike approved

Lawmakers approved an 80 percent hike in the price of cigarettes, a move aimed at cutting consumption in a nation with one of the world's highest male smoking rates. The 2015 budget, which was adopted by the national assembly shortly before midnight on Tuesday, endorsed a government proposal to raise the average price of a pack of cigarettes from 2,500 won ($2.24) to 4,500 won beginning Jan 1.

Japan

Spacecraft aims at asteroid

A Japanese space probe named after a falcon blasted off on Wednesday, setting off on a six-year round trip to an asteroid for samples that scientists hope will help reveal the origins of life. The launch of the Hayabusa 2, postponed twice because of bad weather, comes less than a month after a European Space Agency probe landed on a comet in a pioneering mission.

Yemen

Car bomb targets Iranian envoy

Yemeni security officials said a massive car bomb rocked the capital, Sanaa, apparently targeting the home of the Iranian ambassador. The Wednesday morning blast inflicted heavy damage on several buildings in the area. At least two people were killed, both of them security guards at the ambassador's residence, the officials said. The fate of the ambassador himself was unknown.

Iraq

Arrested woman not IS leader's wife

An Iraqi official denied on Wednesday that a woman detained in Lebanon is a wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, adding that she is the sister of a terror suspect being held in Iraq. The interrogation of the woman was being supervised by Lebanon's military prosecutor.

United States

Missile officer charged in probe

The US air force is court-martialing a nuclear missile launch officer on obstruction of justice and drug charges stemming from a criminal probe last winter into an exam-cheating scandal that implicated nearly 100 nuclear officers. Second Lieutenant Nicole Dalmazzi of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, is the first launch officer known to have been charged since the drug investigation was made public in January.

AP - AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 12/04/2014 page11)