IN BRIEF (Page 10)

United States

Congress clears $1.1t budget

The US Congress cleared a $1.1 trillion spending bill for US President Barack Obama's signature after a day of Senate intrigue capped by a failed, largely symbolic Republican challenge to the administration's new immigration policy. The vote late on Saturday night was 56-40 in favor of the measure, which funds nearly the entire government through the Sept 30 end of the fiscal year.

Egypt

11 men drown as boat sinks

An Egyptian fishing boat crashed into a container ship early on Sunday in the Gulf of Suez, killing 11 fishermen and injuring 11 while 23 men remain missing, officials said. Egyptian naval vessels and other security and medical teams raced to the shores of the town of Al-Tur, the capital of southern Sinai, to aid the fishermen. Three other vessels nearby aided in the search for the missing men, authorities said.

Russia

'No military jet' near airliner

Russia's Defense Ministry on Sunday denied a report by the Swedish military that a Russian military plane nearly collided this week with a passenger plane over Sweden. The ministry did not deny that its plane was in the area at the time of the incident on Friday, but said that it was at a safe distance of more than 70 kilometers from the flight path of the passenger jet.

Turkey

Newspaper close to cleric raided

Turkish police raided the offices of a newspaper close to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen on Sunday, the paper's editor said, two days after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signaled a fresh campaign against Gulen's supporters. "The free press cannot be silenced," a crowd chanted at the offices of Zaman as editor Ekrem Dumanli made a speech that was broadcast live on television, defiantly calling on police to detain him.

AP - Reuters - AP

(China Daily 12/15/2014 page10)