IN BRIEF (Page 12)

China Daily | Updated: 2014-12-09 08:06

Yemen

70 migrants die as boat capsizes

Seventy Ethiopian migrants drowned after their boat sank off the coast of Yemen, local media and authorities said. The small vessel was trying to reach the Red Sea port city of al-Makha when it capsized in bad weather, the official Saba news agency reported on Monday. The Yemeni Interior Ministry said all 70 people on board died, and all were from Ethiopia.

Rok

DPRK's nukes 'biggest threat'

Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye said on Monday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's nuclear program is the major destabilizing factor in the region. "The DPRK's nuclear development is the biggest destabilizing factor in Northeast Asia as well as in the divided Korean Peninsula, posing a serious threat to world peace," Park said in Seoul. She said the DPRK's nuclear weapons program is a major obstacle to building a multilateral cooperation framework in the region, and called Pyongyang's push to develop both its economy and a nuclear arsenal "contradictory" and "incompatible".

Nepal

At least 18 dead in bus accident

At least 18 people were killed and a further 48 were seriously injured in a bus accident in Nepal, police said. The bus was traveling from Kalikot to Kailali in the west of the country when the accident happened. Police said the bus had a capacity of 36 passengers but was carrying 68 which, and this may have been one of the causes of the accident. Officer Rajesh Lal Karna said 14 people died at the scene and four more died as they were being taken to hospital.

Sri Lanka

19 enter race for president

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his former health minister were among 19 people on Monday to hand in nominations to contest the island's presidential election next month. The papers from the 19 were handed in to Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya after Rajapaksa called the election to seek an unprecedented third term, two years before his second term ends.

Malaysia

Pirates shoot tanker sailor

Pirates have shot dead a crew member of a Vietnamese tanker off the eastern coast of Malaysia, maritime officials said on Monday. The 16-crew tanker was carrying asphalt from Singapore to Vietnam when pirates stormed the vessel on Sunday near Aur island off southern Johor state, according to the International Maritime Bureau. There were 103 pirate attacks in Southeast Asian waters in the first three quarters of this year, out of 178 globally.

Xinhua - AP - AFP - Reuters

(China Daily 12/09/2014 page12)