IN BRIEF (Page 11)

China

Senior leader meets guests

Senior Communist Party of China leader Liu Yunshan on Wednesday met with a delegation of the Alliance for the Republic of Senegal led by Mbaye Ndiaye, minister of state at the presidency and a member of Senegal's national directory. Liu, a member of the Party's highest decision-making authority, said China-Africa ties have entered a new stage of development.

Mexico

Tanker truck blast kills 22

A gas tanker truck exploded on a highway north of Mexico City on Tuesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than 30 as a fireball tore through cars and homes. Pablo Bedolla, mayor of the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec, said 22 people died in the blast that engulfed early morning traffic. Television footage showed burned-out vehicles and debris strewn all over the highway.

Belgium

31 arrested over diamond heist

Police have arrested 31 people in Belgium, France and Switzerland over the heist of $50 million in diamonds from Brussels airport in February, Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday. One suspect was arrested in France and eight in Switzerland on Tuesday after a raid near Brussels early on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor said.

Saudi Arabia

13 new cases of SARS-like virus

Saudi Arabia has 13 cases of a new strain of coronavirus that has emerged from the Gulf. The virus has killed seven people in the kingdom and spread as far as the United Kingdom and France, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

Xinhua-Reuters-AFP

(China Daily 05/09/2013 page11)