IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Yemen

Fighting near Hodeidah leaves 12 people dead

Fighting has erupted between the Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen's government near the strategic Red Sea port of Hodeidah, leaving at least 12 people dead and 25 others wounded from both sides, officials said on Sunday, just two days ahead of the implementation of a cease-fire agreed in talks in Sweden earlier this week. They said the fighting began on Saturday night and continued until Sunday afternoon, a development that does not bode well for an end to hostilities in Hodeidah, whose port sees about 70 percent of Yemen's food aid and other imports coming into the country. The cease-fire was expected to go into effect on Tuesday, according to the Yemeni officials.

France

City honors victims of market attack

People filled a square in the French city of Strasbourg on Sunday to show respect and sympathy for the victims of last week's shooting attack near a famous Christmas market as the death toll rose to five. French authorities said a Polish man died in a Strasbourg hospital on Sunday, one of a dozen people wounded in Tuesday's attack. According to the newspaper DNA, more than 1,000 people attended the memorial, which ended with a minute of applause and a rendition of France's national anthem La Marseillaise.

AP - Xinhua - AFP

(China Daily 12/18/2018 page11)