IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Afghanistan

60 extremists killed in raids

Up to 60 Islamic State extremists have been killed in the eastern Nangarhar province as the Afghan government forces began mopping up their hideouts since early on Tuesday morning, the spokesman for the provincial government Attaullah Khogiani said. Government forces backed by aircraft have targeted the positions and hideouts of IS militants in Haska Mina district. So far 60 insurgents have been killed and 18 others injured, Khogiani said.

India

Govt appoints new foreign secretary

India has appointed its former envoy to China, Vijay Keshav Gokhale, as the country's new foreign secretary. Gokhale will take over from incumbent S. Jaishankar when he demits office on Jan 28, the Ministry of Personnel said on Monday. A career diplomat, Gokhale is proficient in the Chinese language and has wide experience in dealing with East Asian countries.

Fog continues to affect flights

Fog continued to wreak havoc for the third day in a row in the Indian capital, severely disrupting air and rail traffic on Tuesday. At least 26 flights to and from Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and more than 100 trains have been affected due to dense fog that has enveloped the city, officials said.

United States

7 injured as truck hits pedestrians

Seven people were wounded, two of them seriously, after a truck plowed into pedestrians and a car in San Francisco on the US west coast on Monday, the San Francisco fire department said. The collision occurred in downtown San Francisco, involving the box truck, two pedestrians, and a car occupied by a family of five. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

New study warns of drier world

More than 25 percent of the world's land could dry up significantly if global warming reaches 2 C, said a new study published online in Nature Climate Change on Monday. Researchers of the study's team examined projections from 27 global climate models to identify the areas of the world where aridity substantially changes from previous year-to-year variations when global warming hits 1.5 C and 2 C above preindustrial levels.

Australia

Seaplane to be raised from river

Accident investigators hope this week to raise a seaplane which crashed into an Australian river killing the six people on board, including a high-profile British chief executive. Richard Cousins, the boss of catering giant Compass, his sons Edward and William, fiancee Emma Bowden and her daughter Heather Bowden-Page were killed in the accident on the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney on New Year's Eve.

Xinhua - AP

(China Daily 01/03/2018 page12)