IN BRIEF (Page 12)

UNITED KINGDOM

'We will keep EU market access'

Britain's Brexit minister said the country will keep access to the European single market after it leaves the European Union but that the question is whether tariffs will be imposed on goods and services. "It will keep its access, but whether it keeps tariff-free access is the issue and I think yes, that is what we are aiming for," he told Sky News' Murnaghan program on Sunday.

INDIA

Bootleg hooch deaths rise to 21

Twenty-one laborers died after drinking toxic homemade liquor in northern India, police said on Sunday, in the latest incident of alcohol poisoning in the country. Police in Uttar Pradesh state's Etah district said the victims started to vomit and fall sick, complaining of severe stomach aches and blurred vision after consuming the illicit moonshine late Friday.

JAPAN

Magnitude-5.0 quake hits Tokyo

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 struck eastern Japan on Sunday and shook buildings in Tokyo, officials and witnesses said, but there was no danger of a tsunami and no immediate report of injuries or major damage. The US Geological Survey put the epicenter of the quake 44 kilometers northeast of Tokyo at a depth of about 44 km. There were no were immediate reports of damage.

COLOMBIA

Venezuelans flock to buy food

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans poured into neighboring Colombia to buy food and medicine on Saturday after authorities briefly opened the border that has been closed for almost a year. A similar measure last week led to dramatic scenes of the elderly and mothers storming Colombian supermarkets and highlighted how daily life has deteriorated for millions in Venezuela, where the economy has been in a free fall since the 2014 crash in oil prices.

ARMENIA

Opposition group takes hostages

An armed Armenian group with links to a jailed opposition leader seized a police building in Yerevan on Sunday, killing one policemen and taking several more hostage, including top officers. One of the gunman said they were demanding the resignation of President Serzh Sarkisian and the release of political prisoners but the country's security services dismissed rumors on social media that a coup was underway.

MIDDLE EAST

Police thwart bomb attack

Israeli police said on Sunday they thwarted a bomb attack at Jerusalem's light rail by a Palestinian youth.

The guard said the suspect, identified as a 20-year-old resident of the West Bank, was standing near a rail stop, holding a bag in his hand. The guard ordered him to open his bag and saw it contains explosives, police said.

(China Daily 07/18/2016 page12)