IN BRIEF (Page 12)

India

Airline claims all-women record

India's national carrier Air India has claimed to have made history by operating a flight around the world with an all-women crew. The Air India flight (Boeing 777) departed from New Delhi on Feb 27 for San Francisco and returned to the Indian capital on March 3. The aircraft flew over the Pacific Ocean on its trip to the United States, while its return flight was over the Atlantic Ocean, encircling the globe, the airline has said. Not only the pilots and the cabin crew, even the check-in and ground-handling staff, engineers, and air traffic controllers who authorized the flight's departure and arrival were all women, it said.

Israel

Netanyahu 'offered new govt'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a plan to form a unity government with Israel's opposition last year as part of a regional peace bid, but later backtracked, a newspaper reported on Sunday. The plan centered on a document delivered to opposition leader Isaac Herzog in September, but Netanyahu later pulled back and talks collapsed in October, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Spokesmen for Netanyahu and Herzog, who heads the Zionist Union coalition dominated by his Labour party, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

United Kingdom

Brexit 'mood music' better

The tone of private discussions between Britain and other members of the European Union about Brexit has improved since earlier this year, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday. "Whatever is being said publicly ahead of the negotiation, the private messaging is that people are now engaging with this more as a shared problem, something that we have to solve together," Hammond told ITV television in an interview.

Cuba

Auction raises healthcare funds

Cuba's annual cigar fair ended in the early hours of Saturday with the traditional auction of unique handcrafted humidors, which raised about $1.3 million for the country's public health service. A much anticipated event among cigar connoisseurs, the auction is the highlight of the International Habanos Festival,. The funds are earmarked for Cuba's universal healthcare system, which provides free medical treatment to all citizens.

United States

Professor wants Hawaiian classes

A University of Hawaii professor is working to get an entire curriculum at the university taught in Hawaiian to supplement the language courses taught to children across the state. About 3,000 students in preschool through high school are involved in Hawaiian language immersion programs statewide, associate professor Larry Kimura told The Hawaii Tribune-Herald.

(China Daily 03/06/2017 page12)