IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Zimbabwe

Contenders both confident of win

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his main opponent, Nelson Chamisa, both said on Tuesday that they were confident of victory in an election the previous day. Mnangagwa said he was receiving "extremely positive" information on the vote. Chamisa said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had done "exceedingly well" in the vote. The 75-year-old Mnangagwa and Chamisa, 40, were the main contenders in Monday's election, the first since Robert Mugabe left office in November.

Tajikistan

Banned party linked to attack

The government on Tuesday accused a banned party of being behind a Sunday attack which killed four tourists from the United States, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The Interior Ministry said the group had planned to flee to Afghanistan after the attack. Four Western cyclists were killed when a car plowed into them on a road on Sunday after which the attackers also stabbed their victims, Tajikistan's interior minister and the US embassy said. Security forces killed four suspected attackers on Monday and detained one.

France

Lawmakers ban phones in schools

Schoolchildren will have to leave their smartphones switched off or at home as the new academic year begins in September, after lawmakers voted for a ban on Monday. The ban on smartphones, tablets and other connected devices, which will apply to pupils up to the age of 14-15, fulfills a campaign promise by centrist President Emmanuel Macron. Nearly nine in 10 French teens aged 12 to 17 own a smartphone.

United States

Company sued over tragedy

The families of four of the 17 people killed when a World War II-style tourist "duck boat" sank on a Missouri lake during a storm this month have sued the tour operator, saying it recklessly allowed the vessel out in dangerous weather. There were 31 passengers aboard the duck boat on Table Rock Lake, outside Branson, Missouri, on July 19 when hurricane-strength winds churned up the water and sank the craft, causing one of the deadliest US tourist tragedies in recent years.

Australia

Man admits child suitcase murder

A man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to killing a young mother and her toddler, whose skeleton was found in a suitcase on the side of a road, ending a case that baffled police and shocked Australians. Daniel James Holdom, 43, admitted the double murder in 2008. The mother's bones were discovered in 2010 and police were unable to identify her until 2015 when her child's remains were found by a passer-by in a suitcase about 1,100 kilometers away. The child's discovery helped investigators identify the pair through DNA.

Afp - Reuters - Ap

(China Daily 08/01/2018 page12)