IN BRIEF (Page 7)

Steel industry profitable after earlier losses

Large and medium-sized iron and steel companies in China turned a profit in the first four months of this year, according to the China Iron and Steel Association.

Qualcomm puts faith in China's IP legal system

Qualcomm Inc, the biggest mobile phone chipmaker, is filing a lawsuit in Beijing against a Chinese phone maker, the first major test of a hard-won agreement with the Chinese government to allow it to enforce its right to charge fees for the use of its technology.

Qunar plans to go private as firms return to China bourses

Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd has received a preliminary offer from Ocean Management Ltd to buy all outstanding shares of the online travel agency, the move making it the latest example of a proposed privatization of a US-listed Chinese company.

NYC subway riders fight back lewdness

Groping, grinding all too common on city's crowded trains

'Waddling ducks' undergo stiletto therapy

Feminists, look away! Fashion police in Japan want to "empower" women by persuading them to wear high heels, insisting the country's historic "kimono culture" has led to many women having poor posture.

Despite vast water sources, farmers experience shortages

Khandu, an elderly villager from the western district of Punakha in Bhutan, has come to join hundreds of villagers to conduct a Buddhist ritual ceremony involving carrying religious texts on his back and walking along the streets.

In a first, Mideast hub Dubai eases liquor regulations

Dubai, the Mideast's desert party town, has just gotten even wetter.

Google Glass aims to help autistic children read faces

Like many autistic children, Julian Brown has trouble reading emotions in people's faces, one of the biggest challenges for people with the neurological disorder.

Lawmakers wind down gun protest

Democrats stage a 'sit in' opponents dismiss as a stunt

Led Zeppelin copyright case in hands of jury

A US jury will deliberate for a second day on Thursday on whether Led Zeppelin poached the opening to Stairway To Heaven from an obscure Los Angeles rock band.

Britons vote on whether to continue EU membership

More than 46 million people are eligible to take part in the referendum to decide country's future