IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Tajikistan

Railway to link China and Iran

The document on a regional railway designed to link China with Iran via Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan, was signed, Tajikistan's Ministry of Transport said on Wednesday. The railway connection project, agreed upon by representatives of transport ministries from the five countries, is expected to start at Kashgar in China and link to Herat, Afghanistan. It will then go through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and finally connect with the Iranian railway.

United States

$1.1 trillion new budget agreed

Republicans and Democrats agreed on Tuesday on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and delay a politically charged struggle over President Barack Obama's new immigration policy until the new year. The compromise will permit virtually the entire federal government to operate normally through the Sept 30 end of the fiscal year, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security.

Switzerland

3,400 died trying to reach Europe

More than 3,400 people have died in the Mediterranean this year trying to reach Europe, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday, urging governments to take more action to save lives. More than 207,000 people have made the risky sea crossing since January, almost three times the previous high of 70,000 during the Libyan civil war in 2011, the agency said.

Venezuela

Maduro blasts US sanctions

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday railed against the US Senate for passing a bill that would impose sanctions on government officials found to have violated protesters' rights during demonstrations earlier this year. "Who is the US Senate to come sanction the nation of Bolivar. We don't accept insolent imperialist sanctions," he said.

France

Al-Qaida hostage returns home

President Francois Hollande has urged French citizens not to travel to areas where they risk being kidnapped, as he greeted a Frenchman returning after being held hostage for three years by al-Qaida's North Africa branch. Serge Lazarevic arrived in France early on Wednesday after being released in what some said was a prisoner exchange.

South Africa

Judge approves Pistorius appeal

South African prosecutors can appeal double-amputee Olympian Oscar Pistorius' acquittal on murder charges for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Judge Thokozile Masipa announced the ruling in a Pretoria court, saying she was satisfied that chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel had raised "questions of law" that should be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Appeal.

AP - AFP - Reuters - Xinhua

(China Daily 12/11/2014 page11)