IN BRIEF (Page 11)

United States

Florence aims at US Southeast

Rapidly intensifying Hurricane Florence could strike a direct and dangerous blow anywhere from the Carolinas to the mid-Atlantic region later this week. Florence crossed the 120 km/h threshold from tropical storm to a hurricane on Sunday morning, and by evening its winds were up to 140 km/h as the National Hurricane Center warned a hurricane hunter plane found the storm strengthening quickly. Forecasters said Florence was expected to become an extremely dangerous major hurricane sometime on Monday and remain that way for days.

Pence denies any NYT column links

Vice-President Mike Pence said he's "100 percent confident" that no one on his staff was involved with an anonymous New York Times column criticizing President Donald Trump's leadership. "I know them. I know their character," Pence said in an interview aired on Sunday. Some pundits had speculated that Pence could be the "senior official" who wrote the opinion piece because it included language Pence has been known to use, like the unusual word "lodestar". The op-ed writer claimed to be part of a "resistance" movement within the government that was working quietly behind the scenes to thwart the president's most dangerous impulses.

Japan

Toll rises to 44 after strong quake

The death toll from a powerful earthquake that triggered massive landslides in northern Japan rose to 44 on Monday with tens of thousands of police and troops still on the ground to support survivors. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said no one was left on a missing list, which suggested the figure could be the final death toll. Around 40,000 police, firefighters, troops and maritime safety officials were providing assistance, with more than 2,700 people still forced to stay in shelters after the killer quake struck the Hokkaido island last week.

United Kingdom

529 took Irish citizenship in 2017

The number of British nationals becoming Irish citizens stood at 529 last year, more than five times higher than the figure of 98 recorded in the previous year, reported local media on Sunday. The Irish Times, a local daily newspaper, quoted Senator Neale Richmon as saying that the 2016 number of British nationals giving up their citizenship for Irish passports was almost doubled than the 2015 figure which stood at 54. Britain held a referendum on Brexit in 2016 which voted in favor of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

Vietnam

Hanoi to improve residents' height

The capital city will spend $15.8 million in the 2018-25 period implementing nutrition and sport programs to increase its residents height, the government said on Monday. Under the programs, by 2025, at least 50 percent of communes and wards in the capital city will have outdoor sport facilities for people to do morning exercise and practice sports free of charge. The average height of men aged 18 years or more in Hanoi is expected to increase to 167.5 cm by 2025 and 169 cm by 2030, and that of women is expected to rise to 156.5 cm by 2025, and 158 cm by 2030.

AP - AFP - Xinhua

(China Daily 09/11/2018 page11)