IN BRIEF (Page 12)

United States

Judge extends online 3D gun ban

A judge in Seattle on Monday renewed a ban on the release of plans for printing untraceable 3D guns on the internet. Judge Robert Lasnik of the US District Court of Western District of Washington at Seattle issued a "preliminary injunction" blocking the publication of online plans for the guns by Texas-based pro-gun group Defense Distributed. The ban has been pursued by 19 US states, the District of Columbia and campaign groups.

Italy

Govt considers policy change

The Italian government announced that it is considering nationalizing the management of its infrastructure following the Genoa bridge disaster, amid a row with the company that managed the viaduct. Transport and infrastructure minister Danilo Toninelli said in a parliamentary hearing that the government would "do its utmost" to fully review the concessions system - under which public assets are managed by private sector companies - in the aftermath of the collapse of the Morandi Bridge, which took 43 lives earlier this month.

France

IS leader 'killed in Mali airstrike'

A top leader of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group, an aide and two civilians have been killed in northeastern Mali by a French airstrike, the French command center in Paris said on Monday. "Commandos deployed on the ground confirmed the death of Mohamed Ag Almouner and one of his bodyguards. They also found the bodies of a woman and a teenager," an army statement said. Another member of ISGS was wounded, along with two other civilians.

Vietnam

Men top Asia drinkers list

Vietnamese men drink five standard alcoholic drinks on average a day, the highest volume in Asia, according to the Lancet medical journal, local media reported on Tuesday. One standard alcoholic drink is equivalent to a small glass of beer or wine, or a shot of spirit. According to the study, Vietnamese women drink less than one standard alcoholic drink a day, standing in the group of lightest drinkers in the world, online newspaper Zing reported.

Japan

Train staff made to sit by tracks

A rail company has defended a safety exercise that requires employees to sit beside tracks in tunnels as bullet trains speed by at 300 kilometers an hour. JR West introduced the training in 2016 after an accident in August 2015 in which part of the train's exterior fell off, the spokesman said. The purpose of the drill was reportedly to impress on the staff how fast the train moved and therefore how seriously they needed to take their jobs. "It was a horrible experience," the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper quoted one employee as saying.

Xinhua - Afp

(China Daily 08/29/2018 page12)