IN BRIEF (Page 9)

The Philippines

7 Indonesian crewmen abducted

Suspected militants in the southern Philippines boarded an Indonesian tugboat and abducted seven of 13 crew members in a third such attack in the volatile region, the Indonesian Foreign Minister said on Friday. The crewmen were believed to be taken by two separate groups to a jungle camp in Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 950 kilometers south of the Philippine capital, Manila, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a news conference in Jakarta. Jolo island in Sulu province is a stronghold of militants from the Abu Sayyaf group.

France

'No murder trial' into Arafat's death

A French court has refused to reopen an investigation into the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat amid suspicions that he was poisoned, saying there is no legal ground for an eventual murder trial. Arafat died in a military hospital in a Paris suburb in 2004 after his health suddenly deteriorated. The cause of death has never been clarified.

United States

Wildfire destroys dozens of homes

A fast-growing wildfire on Thursday destroyed at least 80 homes near the riverside community of Lake Isabella in central California, as a threat to populated areas from five other major blazes across the state diminished, authorities said. Within hours it exploded to cover between 1,200 to 2,000 hectares of drought-parched brush and grass, fire information website InciWeb said.

Vietnam

4 bodies recovered in search for plane

Vietnamese state media said four bodies believed to be crew members of a search plane that crashed last week while looking for a missing fighter jet have been recovered. The online VnExpress reported on Friday that the bodies were found over the past two days about 28 km from Bach Long Vi island in the Gulf of Tonkin. The authorities have recovered some wreckage of the maritime patrol aircraft, including the engine and tail.

AP - Reuters - Xinhua

(China Daily 06/25/2016 page9)