United Kingdom

Counterspy to be MI5 chief

Andrew Parker, a British counterspy who helped thwart an al-Qaida plot to blow up planes with explosives hidden in soft-drink bottles and led the response to the 2005 London bombings is to be the new head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, MI5, the UK government said on Thursday.

Syria

Mortar kills 15 at university

Fifteen Syrian students were killed when rebel mortar bombs hit a Damascus University canteen on Thursday, SANA news agency said, as attacks intensified in the center of the capital. But an opposition monitoring group said the mortar killed 13 people, without saying who fired the bombs. No opposition group has denied or claimed responsibility.

Cyprus

Country 'will not leave euro'

Cyprus will not quit the euro despite the harsh terms of an EU-led bailout deal that saved the island from bankruptcy, President Nicos Anastasiades was quoted by state media as saying on Friday. "We will not leave the euro and I stress that," Anastasiades said in the capital, Nicosia, the Cyprus News Agency reported.

Greece

Govt spokesman condemns attack

Greek government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou on Friday strongly condemned the second fire bomb attack on his brother's home in Athens in two months. Unknown arsonists targeted the house with a makeshift explosive device made of gas canisters in the early hours of Friday, according to police. No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack so far.

Tanzania

15 killed in building collapse

At least 15 people were killed in Tanzania's commercial capital on Friday when a building under construction collapsed, a police officer said at the scene where rescuers scrambled to find survivors. The building fell in central Dar es Salaam. Witnesses at the site said the building fell near where children had been playing.

Austria

Police round up stray cows

Austrian police and firefighters have taken on the role of urban cowboys in a two-day round-up of a herd of cows that broke out of a fenced-off pasture and decided to go into town. A police statement said the 43 animals defied attempts by police and volunteer firefighters to recapture them after wandering off on Thursday and heading toward the town of Freistadt.

Reuters-AFP-Xinhua-AP

(China Daily 03/30/2013 page8)