IN BRIEF (Page 12)

United Kingdom

Ministers throw weight behind Brexit delay

Three British cabinet ministers publicly indicated on Saturday that they will back plans to delay Brexit if lawmakers vote down Prime Minister Theresa May's plan for a new deal with the European Union. Business minister Greg Clark, work and pensions minister Amber Rudd, and justice minister David Gauke signaled in a Daily Mail column that they will side with rebels and opposition parties next week to stop Britain leaving the EU without a divorce deal on March 29 if necessary, adding their weight to calls for May to rule out a no-deal departure. May is struggling against the clock to get a deal with Brussels on Britain's exit that will pass parliamentary muster.

India

Fire at airshow destroys 300 cars

A fire at an airshow in India destroyed three hundred cars on Saturday, a senior fire official said, the latest accident to mar the government-run event. The most likely cause was a "dry grass fire aided by heavy winds", said M.N. Reddi, a fire official in the southern city of Bengaluru where the show is taking place. There were no reports of casualties, he added. Footage showed rows of burnt-out cars and huge flames and plumes of black smoke. The Aero India show, run by the country's Defence Ministry, aims to become one of the world's premier aerospace events, but has been troubled by accidents this year. On Tuesday, two Indian Air Force planes collided in midair while rehearsing an aerobatic show, killing one pilot and injuring two others.

Iceland

Nation plans to hunt 2,130 whales in 5 years

Iceland's whaling industry will be allowed to keep hunting whales for at least another five years, killing up to 2,130 baleen whales under a new quota issued by the government. The five-year whaling policy was up for renewal when Fisheries Minister Kristjan Juliusson announced this week an annual quota of 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales for the next five years. While many Icelanders support whale hunting, a growing number of businessmen and politicians are against it due to the North Atlantic island nation's dependence on tourism.

Italy

Four people dead as gale-force winds hit

Strong winds whipping through central Italy killed four people on Saturday, including a teenager who died when his father fell off the roof and crushed him, media reports said. The 14-year old in Capena near Rome was holding the ladder for his father as he attempted to fix damage to the family roof, when the latter was knocked off by a gust of wind, falling 6 meters and landing on his son, the Fatto Quotidiano daily said. Two men in their 70s were killed by a farm wall that collapsed on top of them near Frosinone, while a 45-year old man died when a pine tree in Guidonia near the Italian capital crushed his car, it said.

United States

Director of Singin' in the Rain dies at 94

Filmmaker Stanley Donen, a giant of the Hollywood musical who through such classics as Singin' in the Rain and Funny Face helped give us some of the most joyous sounds and images in movie history, has died. He was 94. His death of a heart attack was confirmed by one of his sons, Mark Donen, The Chicago Tribune reported. Donen, whose films were known as witty, stylish and energetic, worked with some of Hollywood's biggest stars, from Audrey Hepburn to Fred Astaire. Under Donen's direction, Gene Kelly's famously exuberant and waterlogged dance scene in Singin' in the Rain became one of cinema's most iconic moments.

Reuters - Ap - Xinhua

(China Daily 02/25/2019 page12)