IN BRIEF (Page 12)

REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Govt plans $6.5b R&D fund amid tensions

The Republic of Korea said on Monday that it plans to spend 7.8 trillion won ($6.5 billion) over the next seven years to develop technologies for industrial materials and parts as it moves to reduce its dependence on Japan during an escalating trade row between the two neighbors. ROK Trade Minister Sung Yun-mo said Seoul will also financially support companies in mergers and acquisitions of foreign companies and expand tax benefits to lure more international investment, while easing labor and environmental regulations so that local companies could boost their production. ROK's plans are aimed at stabilizing the supply of 100 key materials and parts used in semiconductors, display screens and other major export sectors.

LIBYA

Airstrike kills 42 in southern region

At least 42 people have been killed and dozens wounded in an airstrike on a town in southern Libya, a local official and the United Nations-recognized government said on Monday. The raid left "42 dead and more than 60 injured, 30 of them critically", an official said. The attack is the second major airstrike blamed on the east-based rebel Libyan National Army, or LNA, loyal to Khalifa Haftar. The LNA confirmed a strike late on Sunday on Murzuq, but denied it had targeted any civilians. The LNA had also denied it had hit a detention center in June but acknowledged increased airstrikes on the capital. The UN-backed government based in Tripoli said dozens were killed and wounded in Murzuq.

INDONESIA

Man walks 700 km to highlight deforestation

Medi Bastoni, 43, is walking backward from his home in eastern Java to the capital Jakarta to raise awareness of deforestation in a country with one of the highest rates in the world. Bastoni started on July 18 from his village on Mount Wilis, a 2,500-meter volcano in East Java province that has been affected by deforestation. He hopes to meet President Joko Widodo when he arrives in Jakarta later this month. "I hope the government will start to care about the environment,... so the young generation will care about our environment," the father of four said.

EUROPEAN UNION

EU: July 2019 hottest month ever recorded

This July was the warmest month across the globe ever recorded, according to data released on Monday by the European Union's satellite-based Earth observation network Copernicus Climate Change Service. Searing heat waves saw records tumble across Europe last month, with unusually high temperatures within the Arctic Circle as well. Globally, July 2019 was marginally warmer - by 0.04 C - than the previous record-hot month, July 2016. "With continued greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting impact on global temperatures, records will continue to be broken in the future," the head of the agency said.

Xinhua - Agencies

(China Daily 08/06/2019 page12)