IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Syria

At least 50 killed in Turkish shelling

At least 50 Kurds were killed on Tuesday by Turkish shelling and airstrikes on Kurdish positions on both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi borders, a monitor group reported. The Turkish missile strikes targeted a media center for the Kurdish forces and a radio broadcast station in Hasakah, near the Iraqi borders, killing 22 Kurds.

South Sudan

China to provide financial, food aid

China will provide $5 million to South Sudan through the World Food Program to help the country better respond to famine, said a Chinese envoy in the United Nations on Tuesday. Given the severity of famine facing South Sudan, China has also decided to provide 8,750 tons of food through bilateral channels to assist the country, said Wu Haitao, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN.

Turkey

1,000 detained over Gulen links

More than 1,000 people were arrested over links to the Gulenist Group in simultaneous raids across Turkey on Wednesday. The operations were carried out as part of a probe led by the chief public prosecutor's office in Ankara. According to the government, the US-based Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 2016, which left 249 people dead.

France

14 arrested in anti-terror probes

Police have arrested 10 people in an investigation of suspected suppliers of weapons to one of the attackers who killed 17 people at Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher store in 2015, the Paris prosecutors' office said on Wednesday. Separately, police have also arrested four people in an anti-terror probe in the town of Trappes west of Paris, the prosecutors' office said.

Australia

Skin whitening craze exploding

A rise in the number of people in Australia's Asian community using skin whitening products is alarming dermatologists, local media reported on Wednesday. Worldwide, the industry of cosmetic skin lightening is worth around $23 billion. But medical experts and dermatologists have warned the practice can be potentially dangerous, saying it can cause skin irritation and other side effects.

Japan

No end in sight for 'crisps crisis'

Legions of Japanese crisps addicts are suffering and it doesn't look like they'll be getting their full fix anytime soon. The country is facing a dire crisps shortage after violent typhoons wiped out potato crops in top tuber producing Hokkaido. The unprecedented series of storms last year has forced chipmakers Calbee and rival Koikeya to halt production of some of their most popular flavors - including pizza and French salad.

(China Daily 04/27/2017 page12)