IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Pakistan

Khan: Govt 'ready to talk' with New Delhi

Pakistan is ready to help India investigate the deadliest attack in India-controlled Kashmir in decades, but will retaliate if New Delhi attacks, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday as tensions between the neighbors soared. "Pakistan won't just think to retaliate. Pakistan will retaliate," Khan said in a nationally televised address, calling on New Delhi to share proof of Islamabad's involvement in last week's suicide blast, which killed at least 41 Indian paramilitaries. On Tuesday, Pakistan also recalled its ambassador from India and appealed for the help of the United Nations to de-escalate and defuse tensions with New Delhi. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia vowed to "de-escalate" rising tensions between Pakistan and India during a high-profile summit in Islamabad on Monday as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prepares to travel from Islamabad to New Delhi.

Bolivia

Bus hits dump truck; at least 24 killed

A passenger bus crashed head-on with a dump truck in southern Bolivia on Monday, killing at least 24 people and injuring 12 more, police said. The accident occurred in a dense fog on the high-plains highway connecting Potosi and Oruro, about 220 kilometers south of capital La Paz. Police said the bus was en route to Oruru from the town of Villazon on the Argentine border. Police said the cause of the accident was under investigation.

Republic of Korea

2 dead, 50 injured in public bathhouse fire

Two men were found dead and about 50 others injured on Tuesday morning as a fire broke out at a public bathhouse in the southeast of the country, local media said. The fire started at 7:11 am from the men's bathhouse on the fourth floor of a building in Daegu city, 240 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The fire was put out in around 20 minutes, but smoke billowed into other facilities of the seven-story building. Two men, estimated to be in their 60s, were found dead inside the bathhouse. About 50 others inhaled smoke and were taken to nearby hospitals. Among the injured, one was in a critical condition. The seven-story building is composed of restaurants on the first and second floors, bathhouses on the third and fourth floors and residential units on the fifth to seventh floors.

Iran

Teheran self-sufficient in gas, minister says

Iran has become self-sufficient in gas production, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Monday after inauguration of the third phase of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas. "Fortunately, we do not need to import gasoline anymore. We have reached self-sufficiency. We can export our produced gasoline but have no export plans," Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Iran's state TV. OPEC member Iran has for years struggled to meet its domestic fuel needs because of a lack of refining capacity and international sanctions. Zanganeh said that with the inauguration of the new phase, the refinery would produce 45 million liters of petrol per day.

Vietnam

Nation reports another train derailment

A compartment of a cargo train departing from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City derailed on Monday evening in central Nghe An Province, causing no casualties but paralyzing the country's north-south railway for four hours, the Vietnam Railways Corporation said on Tuesday. On Feb 14, two compartments of a 13-compartment passenger train departing from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City derailed in southern Dong Nai Province, causing no casualties but paralyzing the north-south railway for more than four hours.

AP - Xinhua - Reuters

(China Daily 02/20/2019 page12)