Turkey

Police break up protest by 2,000

Turkish police fired water cannons and tear gas on Monday to break up a protest of about 2,000 people outside an Ankara court over the handling of the trial of a policeman accused of killing a demonstrator earlier this year. Witnesses said police clashed with the crowd as it descended on the court entrance following a ruling that the accused officer could take part in court hearings via a video link.

Saudi Arabia

New virus kills another person

Saudi Arabia said one more person has died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing to 52 the number of deaths in the kingdom at the center of the outbreak. The Saudi Health Ministry said on Monday that an 83-year-old woman died over the weekend. She was among 124 people who have been infected with the virus in Saudi Arabia since September 2012. The new virus is related to SARS, which killed about 800 people in a global outbreak in 2003. It belongs to a family of viruses that most often causes the common cold.

Republic of Korea

DPRK repatriates 6 ROK citizens

Six people from the Republic of Korea who were recently repatriated from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had sneaked into the DPRK in search of better lives but ended up detained for up to 45 months for illegal entry, Seoul officials said on Monday. Defections from the ROK to the DPRK are rare. In contrast, more than 25,000 DPRK citizens have fled to the ROK for political and economic reasons since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two states bar ordinary citizens from freely traveling across their mutual border and, in September, ROK soldiers fatally shot an ROK citizen they thought was trying to enter the DPRK.

Tunisia

8 arrested over fatal police clash

Eight members of an armed group have been arrested in connection with the deaths of six Tunisian policemen in a clash last week, the Interior Ministry announced. It said in a statement on Sunday that anti-terrorism units of the national guard arrested "eight terrorist elements implicated in the recent events" in the Sidi Bouzid region of central Tunisia. Explosives and arms were seized, it said, without elaborating the operation.

Georgia

Observers praise election outcome

International observers have given their stamp of approval to Georgia's presidential election, characterizing it as "clean" and "transparent". The election was won easily by Giorgi Margvelashvili, a former university rector. He was the choice of the prime minister, who has now consolidated his control over the former Soviet republic.

Reuters - AP - AFP

(China Daily 10/29/2013 page12)