IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Iran

Mastermind of deadly attack killed

Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they had killed the "mastermind" behind an attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz last month which left 25 people dead. The Guards said their forces had killed a man named Abu Zaha and four other militants in Diyala province in Iraq. One news website run by Iran's state television said Abu Zaha was a member of the Islamic State group.

South Korea

Govt grants permits to refugees

The country on Wednesday granted temporary stay permits to 339 Yemeni refugees who have been staying in the southern resort island of Jeju, local media said citing the justice ministry. A total of 481 Yemenis sought asylum in the country after arriving in the island this year.

Afghanistan

Sofa bomb kills election candidate

A bomb placed under a sofa killed an election candidate on Wednesday, officials said, as deadly violence escalates ahead of the Oct 20 parliamentary ballot. Jabar Qahraman had been meeting with supporters in his campaign office in the southern province of Helmand when he was killed. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which takes the number of candidates killed during the campaign season to at least 10.

Canada

Marijuana legalized for recreational use

Nearly a century of marijuana prohibition came to an end on Wednesday as Canada became the first major Western nation to legalize and regulate its sale and recreational use. The Cannabis Act makes Canada only the second nation after Uruguay to legalize the drug. Under the new regulations, Canadians at least 18 or 19 years old (soon to be 21 in Quebec) will be allowed to buy up to 30 grams of cannabis, and grow up to four plants at home.

India

Tension after temple opens to women

Hundreds of extra police in southern India were on high alert on Wednesday for the scheduled opening to women of all ages of one of the country's most sacred Hindu temples. The Supreme Court in September overturned a prohibition on women of menstruating age entering the site.

Reuters - Xinhua - Afp - Ap

(China Daily 10/18/2018 page11)