IN BRIEF (Page 12)

United States

Trump dismisses 'drunk' accuser

President Donald Trump dismissed the latest accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as "drunk" and "messed up" on Tuesday, as Republicans prepared for a potentially explosive hearing over the judge's suitability. Despite the controversy over the nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a preliminary vote for Friday. If approved by the panel, Kavanaugh would go on to face a vote in the full Senate.

NASA sees stalled Martian robot

NASA scientists can now see their solar-powered probe that was lost in a Martian dust storm more than 100 days ago - but the vintage robot hasn't shown any signs of life. Thanks to a high-resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA said on Tuesday it can see the Opportunity rover in Perseverance Valley, on the edge of a huge crater. The 15-year-old rover was last heard from on June 10, when it went into "sleep" mode as dust blocked out the Sun and darkness enveloped the Red Planet.

Malaysia

Najib's wife grilled over 1MDB scandal

The luxury-loving wife of former prime minister Najib Razak faced fresh questioning on Wednesday by investigators probing a multi-billion-dollar scandal. Rosmah Mansor could face criminal charges like her husband. Najib has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of money laundering, corruption, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust over the scandal involving the 1MDB state fund and will face trial next year.

United Kingdom

Increasing life span grinds to halt

Life expectancy in Britain has come to a halt, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed on Tuesday. ONS said the country's life expectancy at birth did not improve in 2015 to 2017 and remained at 79.2 years for males and 82.9 years for females. Life expectancy for some in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has actually dropped, the figures show.

India

Highest ratio of women pilots

India has the highest ratio of women pilots worldwide with 12.4 percent, compared to about 5 percent globally, local media reported on Wednesday. According to English daily The Times of India, the number of women pilots has nearly doubled over the past four years. At present there are 1,092 women pilots in India out of the total 8,797, as compared to 586 out of the total 5,050 pilots in 2014.

Ap - Afp - Xinhua

(China Daily 09/27/2018 page12)