IN BRIEF (Page 12)

United States

House panel votes Barr in contempt

The House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress, escalating the Democrats' extraordinary legal battle with the Trump administration over access to special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report. The vote on Wednesday capped a day of ever-deepening dispute between congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump, who for the first time invoked the principle of executive privilege, claiming the right to block lawmakers from the full report on Mueller's probe of Russian interference to help Trump in the 2016 election.

Syria

7 protesters killed in eastern Syria

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, opened fire at protesters in eastern Syria on Thursday, killing seven of them, state news agency SANA reported. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the town of Shahil in the northeastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province against the practices of the SDF in the town, SANA said. It's worth noting that the SDF controls areas in eastern Deir al-Zour after capturing them from the Islamic State militant group. The Syrian government recently reaffirmed that all Syrian areas will return under the government control, urging the Kurdish-led groups, including the SDF, to choose the interest of Syria first.

Libya

UN voices concern in Libya's Tripoli

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya, or UNSMIL, expressed concern on Wednesday over increasing abductions, arbitrary detentions and disappearances in the capital Tripoli, as the fighting between the east-based army and the UN-backed government continues in and around the city. "UNSMIL is deeply concerned about increasing cases... inflicted upon officials, activists and journalists. These cases warn of deterioration of the rule of law in Libya," the mission said in a statement. It also urged all Libyan parties to immediately release those arbitrarily arrested and detained, and not to engage in such crimes.

United Kingdom

Royal couple name son Archie Harrison

Tired but beaming, Meghan and Prince Harry showed the public their baby son's face for the first time on Wednesday, and also revealed his name: Archie. The royal couple said their son, seventh in line to the British throne, is named Archibald Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. They have not chosen a grander title for the baby, who is not a prince but could have been named a lord. The announcement came hours after the proud parents posed for cameras, helping to satisfy a huge global appetite for images and details about their newborn son.

Australia

Spelling mistakes seen on 50 dollar note

The Reserve Bank of Australia is reeling on Thursday after a local radio station posted a photograph to social media highlighting an embarrassing spelling blunder on the country's new 50 dollar note. Uploaded to Twitter, Triple M shared the image, which was sent in by a listener, showing the word "responsibility" misspelled three times as "responsibilty". Although the note has been in circulation since October last year, it hasn't previously been detected because the writing appears in "reverse text", which is only detectable via microscope. According to rare currency dealer Jim Noble from Noble Numismatics, this is the first time the Reserve Bank of Australia have ever made a "typo" on any circulating currency.

AP - Xinhua

(China Daily 05/10/2019 page12)