IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Turkey

'Security threat' closes US embassy

The US embassy in Turkey was closed on Monday due to an unspecified security threat. A statement posted on the embassy's webpage on Sunday urged United States citizens to avoid the embassy in Ankara as well as large crowds and to "keep a low profile". The statement said the embassy will be closed "due to a security threat. The Embassy will announce its reopening, once it resumes services". It did not give details on the threat.

Sudan

177 foreigners freed from traffickers

Authorities on Sunday freed 177 foreigners held by a human trafficking group in a neighborhood east of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the official SUNA news agency reported. "A joint force of the central reserve police, emergency and operations administration, the criminal investigation and the police of the locality cracked down on the area and arrested the main defendant," police said.

Republic Of Korea

Poet's show shut after allegations

The country's capital has closed an exhibition by poet Ko Un, long the country's hope for a Nobel Prize in literature, amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The government is considering removing his work from textbooks. Ko Un, 84, who denied any "habitual misconduct" in a statement made through his British publisher, first faced allegations when fellow ROK poet Choi Young-mi released a poem in December titled Monster, which describes harassment by an older male poet named "En".

South Africa

Products linked to listeriosis recalled

Two major retail chains, Shoprite and Pick 'n' Pay, will be recalling all products linked to a recent listeriosis outbreak. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Sunday that at least 180 people have died of listeriosis since January 2017, and total cases reported have risen to over 940. The Shoprite Group confirmed on Sunday that it has started to remove the products of Enterprise Foods and Rainbow Chicken from its shelves.

France

Alps avalanches claim 2 lives

Authorities say two people have died, two others have been seriously injured and one is missing after a series of avalanches in the French Alps. The gendarmes in France's eastern region of Haute-Savoie said three avalanches occurred over a two-hour period on Sunday in the Vallorcine sector and a fourth took place earlier in the nearby Samoens area.

(China Daily 03/06/2018 page11)