IN BRIEF (Page 12)

TURKEY

14 killed as bus plunges into canal

At least 14 people including six children were killed on Sunday when a schoolbus plunged off the road and into a canal in southern Turkey, local governor Kerem Al said. The bus had been bringing pupils and their parents back from an excursion to the well-known archaeological site of Karatepe outside the city of Osmaniye when it flipped over into the canal, the governor said. The driver had lost control of the vehicle and an investigation was underway, he added.

INDIA

Five guilty of Danish gang-rape

A court convicted five men on Monday of the gang-rape of a Danish tourist in New Delhi in 2014, a crime which put India's record on sexual violence back in the spotlight. The five were found guilty of the rape and robbery of the 52-year-old woman, who was attacked at knife point after losing her way as she returned to her hotel in central Delhi in 2014.

GERMANY

President won't seek 2nd term

Germany's head of state, 76-year-old President Joachim Gauck, said on Monday that he won't seek a second term in 2017 due to his age. Gauck told reporters at his office in Berlin he would complete his five-year term but didn't feel he was up to another because "the years between 77 and 82 are different than those that I'm in right now".

MALDIVES

Former VP jailed for 10 years

A court jailed former vice-president Ahmed Adeeb for 10 years on terrorism charges, his lawyer said on Monday, after a closed-door trial that was denounced by the opposition as flawed. Adeeb, 34, once seen as the successor to President Abdulla Yameen, was arrested on Oct 24 in a probe into an explosion on Yameen's speedboat and was accused of possessing firearms.

SYRIA

Govt captures more ground

Syrian state media said government forces have captured more ground in their push toward the northern city of Raqqa, the Islamic State group's de facto capital. The SANA news agency says troops are advancing under the cover of airstrikes by Syria's air force and Russian "friends". The report says troops now control the Zakiya area, about 40 kilometers from Tabqa, which is southwest of Raqqa.

UNITED KINGDOM

Pedophile gets life in prison

British pedophile Richard Huckle was sentenced to life in prison by a London court on Monday for abusing 23 Malaysian and Cambodian babies and children over almost a decade. Huckle, 30, stood in the dock at London's Old Bailey court with his hands clasped together as if in prayer as he was told that he would have to serve at least 23 years behind bars for his crimes against victims aged 6 months to 11 years.

(China Daily 06/07/2016 page12)