United States

Asiana offers compensation

Asiana Airlines said on Sunday it was offering an initial compensation payment worth $10,000 to all surviving passengers on board a plane that crashed in San Francisco last month killing three people. The airline started offering the cash to help the 288 surviving passengers meet urgent medical expenses and other needs before final compensation amounts are decided later.

Indonesia

Evacuations as volcano erupts

Indonesian rescuers battled on Sunday to evacuate thousands from an island where a volcanic eruption killed six people the previous day, with the volcano still spewing out rocks and ash at "dangerous levels". Mount Rokatenda, on tiny Palue island in East Nusa Tenggara province, was sending large clouds of red-hot ash up to 600 meters into the air.

Israel

Netanyahu to have operation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo a hernia operation, his office said late on Saturday, a procedure that appeared unlikely to disrupt plans to advance peace talks with the Palestinians next week. A statement said Netanyahu, 63, will be hospitalized overnight for the surgery after he complained of abdominal pain.

Syria

Assad defends home province

Warplanes bombed a village in Syria's north overnight in an apparent effort by President Bashar al-Assad to prevent rebels fighting him from advancing on communities in the stronghold region of his Alawite sect. Assad's forces are on the defensive in his family's home province of Latakia, and recent rebel gains across northern Syria have further loosened his grip on the country.

Yemen

Al-Qaida assault kills 5 soldiers

An attack by "al-Qaida elements" at a gas terminal in Yemen killed five soldiers on Sunday, a military source said, as Washington kept its embassy in Sanaa closed. "The attackers arrived in a car at the army checkpoint near the Balhaf terminal. They opened fire with automatic weapons, killing five soldiers before fleeing," the source said on condition of anonymity.

Japan

Temperatures top 40 C, 4 dead

A heat wave stifled Japan on Sunday as the temperature topped 40 C in two cities, leaving at least four people dead over the weekend, officials and reports said. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the temperature reached 40.6 C in Kofu, 100 km west of Tokyo, in mid-afternoon.

Reuters -AFP

(China Daily USA 08/12/2013 page6)