IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Syria

Suicide bomber kills at least 31

A suicide bomber driving a truck packed with 1.5 metric tons of explosives killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens in the Syrian city of Hama on Sunday, state media and a monitoring group reported. The man blew himself up inside the vehicle on a busy road on the outskirts of the city in central Syria.

United States

JPMorgan to pay $13b fine

Banking giant JPMorgan Chase reached a tentative agreement to pay a record $13 billion fine to the Justice Department to settle probes into its residential mortgage-backed securities, US media reported on Saturday. The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition that the deal was hashed out on Friday.

France

Support for Hollande slides

President Francois Hollande was widely criticized on Sunday for offering to allow Leonarda Dibrani, a teenager of Roma origin ordered off a school bus and deported to Kosovo, the chance to return to France to finish her studies without her family. A poll showed his approval ratings at a record low.

Egypt

Chinese drown off the beach

Four Chinese students drowned when they swam off a beach in the port city of Mersa Matruh, Egypt, on Friday, the Chinese embassy in the country said on Sunday. Heavy wind and big waves were blamed for the deaths of the four, two newlywed couples, the embassy cited local police as saying.

Reuters-Xinhua-AP

(China Daily 10/21/2013 page11)