IN BRIEF (Page 12)

United Nations

Global efforts urged on plastic pollution

UN General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa on Tuesday launched a global campaign against plastic pollution, primarily to raise awareness among peoples around the world. "I intend to leverage the capacity of the office of the president of the General Assembly to support ongoing global campaigns to beat plastic pollution," Espinosa told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York. The campaign has two elements: Reduction of plastic waste at the UN system; global advocacy in collaboration with member states and UN agencies for public awareness across the world.

United States

'Model soldier' jailed for IS group support

A US Army sergeant described by former colleagues as a onetime "model soldier" was sentenced to 25 years in prison at a federal court in Hawaii on Tuesday after pleading guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State militant group. Ikaika Erik Kang, 35, had begun expressing support for the IS by early 2016, according to the Department of Justice. Undercover FBI agents began meeting with Kang earlier this year, some of them posing as members of the militant group. Kang gave them military gear and classified documents and agreed to teach them hand-to-hand combat in a video-recorded session, according to federal prosecutors.

New Caledonia

Evacuations ordered after powerful quake

Coastal evacuations were ordered on Wednesday after a powerful undersea earthquake triggered tsunami warnings in the South Pacific but appeared to have caused little damage. The magnitude 7.6 quake struck east of New Caledonia and was just 10 kilometers deep and about 155 km east-southeast of the Loyalty Islands, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Authorities in the French territory urged people to move to locations more than 300 meters away from the shore, and if possible, to sites higher than 12 meters above sea level. There were no initial reports of destructive waves or major damage.

Brazil

1st baby born via dead donor's womb

A woman who received a womb transplanted from a deceased donor has given birth to a baby girl in the first successful case of its kind, doctors reported. The case, published in The Lancet medical journal, involved connecting veins from the donor uterus with the recipient's veins, as well as linking arteries, ligaments and vaginal canals. It came after 10 previously known cases of uterus transplants from deceased donors - in the United States, the Czech Republic and Turkey - failed to produce a live birth. The girl born in the Brazilian case was delivered via Caesarean section at 35 weeks and three days, and weighed 2,550 grams, the case study said.

Xinhua - Ap - Afp - Reuters

(China Daily 12/06/2018 page12)