UN fails to condemn US-led raids on SyriaThe U.S.-led allied attacks on alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria sparked an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Saturday and a failed vote on a resolution condemn-ing the raids.

The rare Saturday session was convened at Russian request only about 14 hours after the U.S., British and French bombardment* began.

The allies attacked Syria following reports of alleged chemical weapons use in Douma near the capital city of Damascus on April 7, despite the arrival of a Fact-Finding Mission in Damascus on Saturday.

Storm blasts central USA storm system stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes has buffeted* the central U.S. with heavy snow, tornadoes*, rain and hail, forcing fl ight cancellations, creat-ing treacherous* road conditions and killing at least three people, including a sleeping 2-year-old Louisiana girl.

Nearly 470 fl ights were canceled

at Minneapolis-St. Paul Interna-tional Airport on Saturday before crews were able to open one runway shortly after 10 p.m., according to a spokesman. Blizzard conditions also forced the airport in South Dakota’s biggest city, Sioux Falls, to remain closed for a second straight day. .

Facebook ‘in arms race with Russia’Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg accepted personal responsibility on April 10 for the leak of data on tens of millions of its users, while warning of an “arms race” against Russian dis-information* during a high-stakes* hearing with U.S. lawmakers.

In his fi rst formal congressional appearance, Zuckerberg answered questions for nearly fi ve hours as he sought to quell the storm over privacy and security lapses* at the social media giant that have angered lawmakers and users.

Algerian plane crash kills over 250The death toll from an Algerian mili-tary plane that crashed on April 11 in the military airport of Boufarik, 30 km south of Algiers, has risen to 257, local media reported.

The Ilyushin I-76 troop carrier belonging to the Algerian Air Force crashed in the perimeter of the mili-tary airbase of Boufarik.

Ennahar private television chan-nel said the plane was carrying more than 250 troops and had departed for the southwest province of Bechar, before crashing in an unpopulated green fi eld near the airport.

Abe may quit ‘in June’Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, plagued by suspected cronyism* scandals and cover-ups and sliding ratings, will likely step down in June, former leader Junichiro Koizumi was quoted as saying on Monday.

A survey by broadcaster Nippon TV released on Sunday showed Abe’s support had sunk to 26.7 percent, the lowest since the con-servative lawmaker took offi ce in December 2012. (SD-Agencies)

02Shenzhen Daily Wednesday April 18, 2018Email: mllmx@msn.com

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Pilot free trade zonePresident Xi Jinping on Friday announced a decision to develop the island of Hainan into a pilot free trade zone.

A free trade port is the world’s most open form of economic zone, which has brought prosperity to places like Singapore and Hong Kong thanks to its broad-based* preferential policies on trade and investment. Policies and institutional systems for building a free trade port in Hainan will be established “step by step and stage by stage,” Xi said at a gathering cel-ebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan Province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone.TCM educationChina plans to combine the master-apprentice system with college edu-cation to train more practitioners in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), according to a guideline issued by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

With a history of more than 2,000 years, TCM has unique theories and practices in herbal medicine, acu-puncture,* massage and dietetics*. The master-apprentice system is part of the tradition of TCM. Anticancer drugsA series of new policies on anticancer drugs in China will give hope to the country’s cancer patients.

According to the statement released after an executive meeting of the State Council on Thursday, starting May 1, import tariffs on all common drugs including cancer drugs, cancer alkaloid*-based drugs, and imported traditional Chinese medicine will be exempt. Also, value-added tax in the production and import of drugs will drop by a large margin, which experts believe will be more effective in easing the economic burden of patients.HK pet bird marketThe government of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has announced the closure of a pet bird market after the detection of bird fl u virus in a bird shop.

A spokesman for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Depart-ment (AFCD) said Friday that H5 avian infl uenza virus had been detected in a swab* sample taken from a hill myna* in a bird cage at a pet bird shop in Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, a pet bird market in Mong Kok. (SD-Agencies)

Djukanovic commits to EU path after sweeping vote in MontenegroMontenegro’s ruling party leader Milo Djukanovic waves to his supporters after results showed he had won the preliminary* presidential elections on Sunday. He pledged to keep the small Balkan country fi rmly on path with the European Union after it joined NATO last year in defi ance of Russia. Djukanovic won 54 percent of the ballots, securing a victory in the fi rst round and avoiding a runoff*. SD-Agencies