IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Afghanistan

Top officers resign after Taliban attack

Afghan Defense Minister Abdullah Habibi and his army chief, Qadam Shah Shaheem, resigned on Monday, days after what is believed to be one of the deadliest Taliban attacks on a military base triggered calls for officials to step down. Ten gunmen dressed in soldiers' uniforms and armed with suicide vests entered the base in army trucks and opened fire at unarmed troops at close range in a mosque and dining hall. The exact toll from the assault remains unclear. Some local officials have put the number of dead alone as high as 130.

New Zealand

Govt considers restricting laptops

New Zealand is considering restrictions on laptops and other large electronic devices on flights from some Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, the country's prime minister said on Monday. The new rules would follow similar measures introduced last month by the United States, Britain and Australia. On March 25, the US banned electronic devices larger than a mobile phone from passenger cabins of direct flights from eight countries, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

United States

3 children among victims in house fire

A fast-moving fire killed five people, including three children, as flames surged through a New York home on a sunny spring afternoon, leaving authorities to scour for clues about what sparked the blaze. The fire broke out on Sunday, on a street full of single-family homes in the middle class neighborhood of Queens Village. Television news footage showed flames chewing through the roof of the two-story house and roaring in upstairs rooms as smoke poured from it.

Australia

Boy, 12, stopped from solo driving

Outback police have arrested a 12-year-old boy who was almost a third of his way toward driving solo across Australia. The unlicensed boy had driven more than 1,300 kilometers from his home in Kendall on the east coast when he was stopped by traffic police on Saturday on the Barrier Highway near the remote mining town of Broken Hill. He was pulled over because a bumper bar was dragging on the road, a police statement said on Sunday. Police said he was driving to the west coast city of Perth, more than 4,100 km from Kendall.

(China Daily 04/25/2017 page11)