World Briefs

CHINA Air pollution in Beijing reached hazardous levels on Saturday as smog engulfed large parts of China despite efforts to clean up the foul air. At noon, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing reported the level of the poisonous, tiny articles of PM2.5 at 391 micrograms per cubic meter. The World Health Organization considers the safe level at 25 micrograms per cubic meter of the particulates.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Pope Francis arrived Sunday in the conflict-torn African country, brushing aside security concerns to bring a message of peace and reconciliation to a country where violence between Christian and Muslim militants has forced nearly 1 million from their homes over the last two years. More on p14
UK British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the Sunday Telegraph that “what happened in Paris and Brussels could easily happen in London.” Speaking in an interview, Fallon said the threat from Islamic State “is as potent here as it was real in Paris and Brussels.”

TURKEY’s prime minister says the country has taken delivery of the body of a Russian pilot who was killed after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian warplane.
Ahmet Davutoglu says the pilot’s body was brought to the border province of Hatay “through Turkey’s initiatives” early on Sunday and will be flown back to Russia. He said the local Orthodox church in Hatay performed religious rites for the pilot.

GREECE’s Piraeus Bank SA won approval from the European Union for USD2.88 billion) in state aid on the basis of an amended restructuring plan. “The European Commission concluded that the measures already implemented as part of the bank’s existing restructuring plan of July 2014, in addition to those envisaged in the amended plan, will enable Piraeus Bank to ensure lending to the Greek economy in line with EU state- aid rules,” EU said in a statement yesterday.

IRAN’s official news agency is quoting the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, as calling the recent Paris attacks “blind terrorism.” The comments, reported by the IRNA news agency yesterday, were Khameini’s first reaction to the attacks, in which extremist jihadists killed 130 people and injured scores of others. The government had previously condemned the attacks immediately after they occurred.

USA Bill Gates and fellow philanthropists today will unveil a multibillion-dollar fund for clean-energy technology that’s key to combating climate change, according to an environmental group briefed on the announcement.
The effort, described as the biggest clean-energy research commitment in history, is intended to boost United Nations talks on climate change set to begin in Paris on Sunday