IN BRIEF (Page 12)

India

48 killed after bus falls into gorge

At least 48 people were killed on Sunday when an overcrowded bus plunged off a mountain road into a gorge in northern India, officials said. Chief Minister of Uttarakhand state Trivendra Rawat said the bus fell into a 213-meter-deep gorge in the Himalayan foothills. He said about a dozen other people were injured and hospitalized. Police official Manoj Kumar said rescuers recovered 48 bodies from the accident site. Police said the 28-seat bus was carrying about 60 people. Police suspect the vehicle skidded off the road because of heavy rain.

Mexico

Outsider favorite as polling begins

Mexicans vote for a new president on Sunday in an election tipped to hand power to an anti-establishment outsider who would inject a new dose of nationalism into government and could sharpen divisions with the United States. Former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has led opinion polls throughout the campaign and pitches himself as the only man capable of cleaning up a political class whose credibility has been ground down by persistent graft, soaring crime levels and years of sub-par economic growth.

Republic Of Korea

Neighbors restore military hotline

The Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Sunday restored a maritime military hotline between battleships of the two sides, Yonhap news agency reported citing Seoul's Defense Ministry. The ministry was quoted as saying that the move was made to prevent accidental skirmishes in waters near the west inter-Korean maritime border. Earlier in the day, an ROK patrol ship sent a call via the international radio links in waters near Yeonpyeong Island to a DPRK patrol vessel, which immediately replied to the call, according to the report.

United States

Flight school duo on kidnap charge

Two employees with the IASCO Flight School in California have been charged with kidnapping and other crimes against a Chinese student pilot. According to criminal charges filed by Shasta County prosecutors, 48-year-old Jonathan McConkey and his assistant, Kelsi Hoser, 50, were charged with kidnapping, first-degree residential burglary and false imprisonment by violence. The defendants allegedly kidnapped Tianshu Shi, or Chris Shi, and tried to send him back to China, according to the Redding Police Department. They deny the charges.

Ap - Xinhua - Reuters

(China Daily 07/02/2018 page12)