World Briefs

CHINESE stocks sink again while other Asian markets rise and Europe retreats as investors look ahead to the US Federal Reserve’s latest statement on interest rates and the economic outlook.

VIETNAM’s Communist Party re-elects its 71-year-old chief, Nguyen Phu Trong, for a second term, an expected outcome that sees the conservative pro-China ideologue cementing his hold on power.

JAPAN Yahoo Japan says it is strengthening policing of the illegal trade of ivory on its online commerce site as criticism grows it is fueling the slaughter of wild elephants. Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka authorities yesterday began destroying a shipment of African ivory seized three years ago.

SOUTH KOREA Maritime police withdrew divers after they failed to find at least four people believed to be trapped inside a Chinese fishing boat that capsized, killing at least one passenger off South Korea’s southwest coast.

THAILAND The hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner in the Indian Ocean has been set back with two of the three search ships sustaining damage to vital equipment in recent days.

MALAYSIA The anti-corruption agency says it will appeal the attorney general’s decision to clear Prime Minister Najib Razak of criminal charges over a USD681 million financial scandal.

MYANMAR A landslide of mining waste kills at least six people in the sixth deadly such accident in northern jade mining region since a November disaster left more than 100 dead.

UNITED NATIONS  launches an appeal for USD393 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to help millions of vulnerable people this year.

UK Brazilian midfielder Ramires has left Chelsea as compatriot Alexandre Pato arrived in London to join up with the Premier League champions. After more than five years at Chelsea, Ramires has signed for Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning. But Chelsea is set to add striker Pato to its squad until the end of the season. Pato flew into London from Brazil to complete an expected loan move from Corinthians.

FRANCE’s charismatic justice minister Christiane Taubira unexpectedly resigned after objecting to President Francois Hollande’s push to revoke citizenship from convicted terrorists with dual nationality.

PARIS A huge “mood” garden decor – replete with a relaxation pond, forest and grass – greeted the 43-year-old Oscar-winner Paltrow, who posed for cameras in a check Chanel skirt suit with high collar near some steps leading up to a minimalist wooden hut. It was so realistic there was even a small swarm of flies buzzing around on the verdant lawn – and with it Lagerfeld may possibly have created the world’s first couture ecosystem. Other celebrity attendees included actresses Monica Bellucci and Diane Kruger.