IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Afghanistan

Taliban name negotiating team

The Taliban have announced a 14-member negotiating team ahead of talks this month with US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been meeting with the insurgents to try to end US' longest war. The team includes five former inmates of the US prison in Guantanamo Bay who were released in 2014 in exchange for a captured US soldier. The team also includes Anas Haqqani, the jailed younger brother of the leader of the Haqqani network, a powerful Taliban faction. Taliban spokesman said Haqqani, who is being held in Kabul, "should be released to start work on the negotiating team".

Iraq

Acting Pentagon chief visits Iraq

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived on Tuesday in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet with Iraqi officials and US troops in Iraq, local media reported. Shanahan is expected to meet with Iraqi top officials, including Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, as well as visiting US troops stationed in the country, the Iraqi NINA news agency said. Shanahan, 56, officially took over the Pentagon early in January as acting US secretary of defense after his predecessor, James Mattis, who resigned on Dec 20 over policy disagreements with US President Donald Trump.

India

Antitrust commission investigating Google

The Competition Commission of India is looking into accusations that Alphabet Inc's unit Google abuses its popular Android mobile operating system to block its rivals, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The CCI has for the past six months been reviewing a case similar to one Google faced in Europe that led to a fine of 4.34 billion euro (about $5 billion) by antitrust regulators last year, three of the sources said. Google has challenged that order. Google declined to comment. The CCI did not respond to Reuters' queries.

United States

E-cigarette popular among young people

The number of young US citizens using e-cigarettes grew by 1.5 million in 2018, undermining years of progress in reducing youth smoking, according to the report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It said about 3.6 million middle and high school students were current users of vaping products, up from 2.1 million the year before. A current user is defined as a person who has used a product in the past 30 days. CDC director said the "skyrocketing" growth over the past year threatens to erase progress made in reducing youth tobacco use.

Woman goes to jail over boyfriend suicide

A young woman convicted of convincing her boyfriend via text to commit suicide has started her jail sentence in the eastern US state of Massachusetts, local media reported on Monday. Michelle Carter, 22, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2017. She was allowed to remain free while she appealed her conviction. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld her conviction last week.

Ap - Xinhua - Reuters - Afp

(China Daily 02/13/2019 page12)