IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Middle East

Gunman kills three Israeli officers

A Palestinian gunman killed three Israeli security officers and wounded another outside a West Bank settlement on Tuesday before he was shot dead, Israeli police said. The shootout took place outside Har Adar, an upscale Jewish settlement northwest of Jerusalem, near the zone between Israel and the West Bank.

India

Modi: Every home will have electricity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed that every home in India will have electricity by December 2018 as he moves to shore up voter support amid doubts over his handling of the economy. The $2.5 billion scheme announced on Monday would see the country's 40 million households without electricity linked up to power for free. Analysts said Modi wants to bolster rural support for national elections in 2019.

Indonesia

Volcano eruption threat sparks exodus

Warnings that a volcano on the tourist island of Bali will erupt have sparked an exodus of more than 75,000 people that is likely to continue to swell, the country's disaster agency said on Tuesday. The region is being rattled daily by hundreds of tremors from the mountain.

Australia

Second refugee group leaves for US

A second group of about 30 refugees held in Australian-run detention centers on South Pacific islands will leave soon for resettlement in the United States under a controversial refugee swap deal, a US official said on Tuesday. The first group of 22 people, including men from Bangladesh, Sudan and Rohingya muslims from Myanmar, left one of the camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea on Sunday. They were scheduled to board a plane from Port Moresby to Manila on their way to the US.

(China Daily 09/27/2017 page12)