IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Syria

Assad regards war as international

President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview published on Sunday that the war in Syria is not a civil war, but an international one. Speaking in an interview with the Russian NTV, whose content was carried by Syrian state news agency SANA, Assad said the US attempted to redraw the political, and "possibly" the military map of the world. He said Syria was one of the main battlefields, at least in the Middle East, for the United States to draw the new map of the world, noting that talking with the US is now of no avail and a mere "waste of time". The president also said the military and political presence of Russia in Syria is important to achieve the international balance.

Malaysia

Najib ex-aide held in 1MDB probe

The authorities have made the first arrest in a renewed probe into the multi-billion dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, remanding a former aide of ousted prime minister Najib Razak to assist in investigations, Bernama news reported on Monday. The new government led by the 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad reopened investigations into billions of dollars allegedly siphoned out of 1MDB after Najib's administration lost a general election in May, fueled by anger over the scandal and rising living costs.

Yemen

Saudi strikes kill at least 8

A pair of airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Monday killed at least eight civilians - all members of a single family - in Yemen's Amran province near the capital, Sanaa, security officials said. The airstrikes, which hit sites in the city of Amran, also wounded more than 20 people, the officials said. Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had intercepted two missiles launched by Yemen's Houthi militia over the capital Riyadh, as a Saudi-led coalition moved to wrest control of Yemen's main port city from the rebels.

United States

Thousands flee fresh wildfires

Wind-driven wildfires destroyed buildings and threatened hundreds of others as they raced across dry brush in rural Northern California. The Pawnee Fire, which broke out Saturday near the community of Clearlake Oaks, has destroyed 12 buildings and threatened an additional 600. As of Sunday, there was no containment and it burned across about 31 square kilometers. Authorities ordered people to evacuate all homes in the Spring Valley area, where about 3,000 people live.

Australia

Kangaroo halts soccer match

A kangaroo became the latest social media sensation after invading a soccer pitch just two kilometers from Parliament House in Canberra on Sunday. The woman's premier league soccer match was stopped for almost 20 minutes as the kangaroo jumped fences, sprinted the length of the pitch and laid down in the penalty box. Now the animal's antics have made headlines around the world after the video went viral on social media.

Xinhua - Reuters - Ap

(China Daily 06/26/2018 page11)