Briefly

NIGERIA

Gunmen kill at least 50 in northern villages

An armed gang killed at least 50 people in attacks on villages in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna on Sunday, Kaduna's governor said on Monday on a visit to the affected communities. Governor Nasiru El-rufai said the gunmen are suspected to have come from the neighboring states of Katsina, Zamfara and Niger Republic, adding that troops had been sent to the area. Hundreds of people have been killed in the northwest of Nigeria since last year, in attacks the government attributes to bandits－a loose term for gangs of outlaws carrying out robberies and kidnappings.

BRAZIL

18 die after boat sinks in Amazon rainforest

At least 18 people were killed when a riverboat sank in the Amazon rainforest region, Brazilian authorities said on Monday, as survivors described fleeing the foundering boat in terror. The ferry was taking passengers up the Jari River, a tributary of the Amazon, when it suddenly began to tip over at around dawn on Saturday. Authorities said late on Monday that beyond the 18 fatalities, they had rescued 46 survivors and 30 others were still missing－meaning there were far more people on board than initially believed. Search operations were ongoing, using helicopters, planes and rescue divers.

INDONESIA

Active volcano erupts, spews ash into sky

Indonesia's most active volcano erupted on Tuesday, spewing sand and pyroclastic material and sending a massive smoke-and-ash column as high as 6,000 meters into the sky. The eruption of Mount Merapi on the main island of Java also unleashed searing gas clouds 2 kilometers down its slopes, said Indonesia's Geology and Volcanology Research Agency on its website. The agency said villagers living on Merapi's fertile slopes were advised to stay 3 km from the crater's mouth as the ash made the rain thick and muddy in several villages. Witnesses said the sound was heard 30 km away. The agency did not raise the alert status of Merapi, which already was at the third-highest level due to its ongoing activity.

UNITED STATES

Jack Welch, legendary GE chief, dies at 84

Jack Welch, who built General Electric into a global industrial flagship and became one of the country's best-known businessmen, died on Monday aged 84. Dubbed the "manager of the century", by Fortune magazine in 1999, Welch transformed GE into a sprawling conglomerate during his two decades as CEO.Welch, the son of a railway worker and a homemaker, rose from his working class roots to ultimately expand GE beyond household appliances, healthcare and aeronautics into finance with GE Capital and media through NBCUniversal. The company's market capitalization grew from $12 billion when he took over in 1981 to $410 billion when he left.

Agencies - Xinhua