WORLD BRIEFS

CHINA: Beijing on alert for congress

During her 30-hour train journey to Beijing, Wang Xiulan ducked into bathrooms whenever conductors checked IDs. But as she lay low in the capital's outskirts, unidentified men caught her in a night raid and hauled her to a police station. She assumed a fake identity to get away, and is in hiding again. Wang's not a criminal. She's a petitioner. She's among many people attempting to take local complaints directly to the central government in an age-old tradition that has continued during the Communist Party era. But police never make it easy. As a national leadership transition begins, a dragnet is aimed at keeping anyone perceived as a threat or a troublemaker out of Beijing. "There is no law in China, especially for us petitioners and ordinary folk," Wang, 50, told The Associated Press. "If we get locked up, we never know when we might be freed." The power transition begins Thursday, the opening of the Communist Party Congress.

U.S. warned of cyber threat

China is "the most threatening actor in cyberspace" as its intelligence agencies and hackers use increasingly sophisticated techniques to gain access to U.S. military computers and defense contractors, according to the draft of an annual report mandated by the U.S. Congress. "China's persistence, combined with notable advancements in exploitation activities over the past year, poses growing challenges to information systems and their users," the U.S.- China Economic and Security Review Commission said in the draft obtained by Bloomberg News.

AFGHANISTAN: Girl's attacker in hiding

The Pakistani Taliban leader who sparked outrage by ordering an attack on a schoolgirl last month is hiding in a section of Afghanistan where U.S. forces are spread thin and focused on other targets, U.S. intelligence officials said. Mullah Fazlullah, mastermind of the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, 15, is in a region adjoining Pakistan where U.S. troops are stationed. But finding him is not a priority because he is not affiliated with al-Qaida or with insurgents targeting U.S. and Afghan interests, they said.