IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Malaysia

MH370 search to end next week

Malaysia's new Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said on Wednesday that the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will end on May 29, more than four years after the plane disappeared and triggered one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries. The US-seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity is about to complete the search area but has not locate any major finding so far. The jet vanished in March 2014 with 239 people - mostly from China - on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

United States

Literary giant Philip Roth dies

Prolific novelist Philip Roth, a dominant force in US literature throughout the latter half of the 20th century, has died at the age of 85. Roth's death on Tuesday, first reported by the New Yorker and The New York Times, was later confirmed by Roth's literary agent Andrew Wylie. He said the cause was congestive heart failure. Roth won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his acclaimed novel American Pastoral.

Germany

First city to order diesel bans

Authorities in Hamburg said on Wednesday they would ban some diesel vehicles from two major arteries to improve air quality, making the German port city the first to take the long-feared step. A 1,600-meter section of the Stresemannstrasse highway in the Altona district will be closed to older diesel trucks from May 31. Exemptions will be allowed for local residents and businesses as well as for delivery vehicles, ambulances and rubbish trucks.

Japan

Mayor resigns over misconduct claims

The mayor of Komae City near Tokyo said on Tuesday he would step down following claims that he sexually harassed multiple women. Four female employees of the government submitted a letter of protest to the city, naming themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Komae Mayor Kunihiko Takahashi. Takahashi had previously denied the allegations. Local media reported that of those harassed, one of them said Takahashi had forced her to drink from a glass he had been drinking from, while another alleged he touched her buttocks in an elevator.

AFP - Xinhua - Reuters

(China Daily 05/24/2018 page11)