IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Brazil

School shooting leaves 10 dead

At least 10 people were killed and many more injured in a school shooting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Wednesday. The shocking attack took place at 9:30 am at a public school in the Jardim Emperador neighborhood of Suzano. Initial reports said eight people were killed, but the death toll rose as two of the wounded people later succumbed to their injuries in a hospital. The attackers used firearms and knives, sparking a stampede as panicked students ran for cover. A bomb squad was dispatched to the school, as witnesses reported seeing the two attackers enter the premises carrying a large bundle with cables which was feared to contain explosives.

Australia

Govt refuses risky rescue of extremists

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday he won't put officials in danger by retrieving extremists from the Middle East after the Australian widow of an Islamic State fighter asked to bring her children home from a Syrian refugee camp. His response came after the Australian Broadcasting Corp interviewed the woman in a Syrian refugee camp where she lives with her toddler son and malnourished 6-month-old daughter since they fled the Syrian village of Baghouz. ABC said the 24-year-old woman refused to confirm her identity and wore a veil during the interview, but the broadcaster identified her on Thursday as Zehra Duman.

Malaysia

Vietnamese woman loses bid for release

A Vietnamese woman suspected of assassinating a man from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at a Malaysian airport in 2017 lost her bid for immediate release on Thursday as Malaysian authorities refused to drop a murder charge, days after her Indonesian co-defendant, Siti Aisyah, was freed. Doan Thi Huong, 30, broke down in tears as a prosecutor announced that Malaysia's attorney-general had rejected a request to free her and her trial would continue.

United States

Pentagon may test long-banned missiles

The Pentagon is mulling starting testing later this year of missiles that were banned by a decades-old nuclear treaty, media reported on Wednesday. The projects expected to be launched include a ballistic missile with a range up to 4,000 km. Neither of the missiles will be nuclear-armed, US media said, citing anonymous Pentagon officials. The plan came over a month after the White House announced in early in February that the US was withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force Treaty in six months, starting from Feb 2.

Xinhua - AP - AFP

(China Daily 03/15/2019 page12)