IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Italy

Rescuers hopeful of more survivors

Rescue crews digging through an Italian hotel buried in an avalanche say there could be additional survivors more than three days after tons of snow came barreling down a mountainside. Rescuers told reporters in the central Apennine mountains on Sunday morning there are air pockets in some of the Hotel Rigopiano's wreckage. But they haven't been able to reach all those areas yet. Nine survivors from the Wednesday evening avalanche were located in air pockets inside the crushed hotel on Friday.

Papua New Guinea

No tsunami following quake

A powerful magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck deep under Papua New Guinea on Sunday, causing damage and blackouts but no tsunami hours after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert for nearby islands. The mid-afternoon quake struck at a depth of 167 kilometers beneath the eastern province of Bougainville, where Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands meet in a continuous South Pacific archipelago. No casualties were reported.

Australia

Infant dies, raising car rampage toll to 5

A three-month-old baby has become the fifth victim of a deadly car rampage in Australia's second-largest city that left four others fighting for their lives and dozens injured. A 26-year-old man drove his car into pedestrians at a busy shopping strip in the heart of Melbourne on Friday, hitting numerous people and sending others running for cover. The infant died in hospital on Saturday evening, Victoria Police said. The four others killed were a 10-year-old girl, two men aged 25 and 33, and a 32-year-old woman.

Gambia

Jammeh quits after 22 years in power

Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh flew out on Saturday from the country he ruled for 22 years to cede power to President Adama Barrow and end a political crisis. Jammeh refused to step down after a Dec 1 election in which Barrow was declared the winner, triggering weeks of uncertainty that almost ended in a military intervention involving five other west African nations.

France

Voters choosing left-wing nominee

French left-wing voters cast ballots in a nationwide presidential primary aimed at producing a candidate strong enough to confront formidable conservative and nationalist rivals in the April-May general election. Seven candidates from the Socialist Party and its allies were running in Sunday's first round of voting. The top two vote-getters advance to a runoff on Jan 29. Center-leaning former Prime Minister Manuel Valls was a leading contender, but faced formidable challenges from harder-core leftists Arnaud Montebourg and Benoit Hamon, both former government ministers.

(China Daily 01/23/2017 page12)