World Briefs

VIETNAM’s prime minister says the Communist country will do its best to develop good relations with China, but at the same time will defend its sovereignty in the disputed South China Sea.

JAPAN A compromise struck by the United States, Japan and several other major nations will restrict export financing to build coal power plants overseas, but not eliminate it completely.

BANGLADESH Three men fire shots at an Italian priest as he rides his bicycle to church in northern Bangladesh, sending him to a hospital with head injuries amid a surge in militant violence this year.

AUSTRALIA-JAPAN An Australian court fined a Japanese whaling company 1 million Australian dollars (USD700,000) yesterday for violating a court order that it stop hunting whales in an area off Antarctica.

AUSTRALIA Wildfires raging across southwest Australia kill four people as a blistering heat wave sweeps through the country.

S KOREA Seoul’s spy service tells lawmakers that about 200 Syrians fleeing war have arrived by airplane in South Korea, but the government has yet to decide whether to grant refugee status to any of them.

THAILAND Two airports in northern Thailand say nearly 150 flights will be canceled or rescheduled during a three-day festival next week when revelers launch lanterns into the sky that can pose danger to airplanes.

USA Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal dropped out of the 2016 race for president Tuesday, ending a campaign that failed to gain much support among Republicans sifting through a long list of contenders for the party’s nomination. 44-year-old Jindal, the nation’s first elected Indian-American governor, said he wasn’t ready to endorse another candidate, but intended to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee.

USA Aggressive action to fight climate change will be a boon for businesses in Asia and beyond, President Barack Obama asserts as he reaches for a global climate change agreement he hopes will burnish his environmental legacy.

USA President Barack Obama lashes out at Republicans who insist on barring Syrian refugees from entering the U.S., deeming their words offensive and insisting “it needs to stop.” ‘’Apparently they’re scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America,” Obama said.