World Briefs

CHINA Guinness World Records has denied a Chinese city’s attempt at a new mark for the biggest serving of fried rice ever cooked, saying Yangzhou violated rules by wasting 150 kg of the feast. According to a posting on the record book’s Chinese microblog, organizers said 4 metric tons of cooked fried rice was distributed to five different outlets. However, local media quoted the Yangzhou tourism bureau as saying some of the rice was considered inedible and sent to a farm to feed pigs.

USA-TIBET The Liberty Medal has been presented to representatives of the Dalai Lama in recognition of his efforts to promote compassion and human rights around the world. The Tibetan spiritual leader was chosen in June to receive the award, which comes with a USD100,000 cash prize, but canceled his appearance at the Philadelphia ceremony on Monday evening for health reasons.
VIETNAM A court sentences six executives of a state-owned railway corporation to up to 12 years in prison after convicting them of corruption involving a Japanese-funded railway project.

CAMBODIAN civil society groups and an international human rights organization condemn an assault on two opposition lawmakers by protesters who were apparently supporters of the ruling party, and demand an independent investigation.

PHILIPPINES-AUSTRALIA The Philippines is unable to permanently resettle refugees from Australian-run detention camps as it attempts to provide for its own people, President Benigno Aquino III says.

PORTUGAL’s prime minister has named his Cabinet for what could be one of the country’s briefest governments ever. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho presented his list of senior government officials yesterday to the Portuguese head of state for formal approval. They were to be sworn in Friday, after which the center-right coalition government has 10 days to present its four-year policy program to Parliament.

POLAND  Most of the results were in for Poland’s parliamentary election but the country was still waiting early on Tuesday to learn if the winning right-wing Law and Justice party has secured a majority in the lower house of parliament. The state election commission was to announce yesterday afternoon how many seats each of the parties will get. Five parties won seats, including the centrist Civic Platform that had ruled for eight years.

YEMEN  A small medical facility run by Doctors Without Borders in the northern Yemeni province of Saada was destroyed by two airstrikes but there were no casualties, the aid group’s chief in Yemen said yesterday. The first strike came around 11 p.m. on Monday and hit a building housing the facility’s administration offices, according to Hassan Boucenine, who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone from the southern port of Aden.

UK Britain’s economy slowed in the July-September period amid broader concerns over the global economy. The Office of National Statistics said yesterday the economy grew 0.5 percent compared with the previous quarter, when growth was 0.7 percent. The rate was below expectations of 0.6 percent.