World briefs

CHINA’s economy is showing the first signs of recovery after months of slowdown, as stock and commodity rallies lift confidence. But increasing optimism aside, the clouds haven’t cleared for the country’s economy. 

CHINA has unveiled draft regulations on gene editing and other potentially risky biomedical technologies after a Chinese scientist’s claim of helping to create gene-edited babies roiled the global science community.

AUSTRALIA The most senior Catholic cleric ever convicted of child sex abuse was sent to prison yesterday and will wait two weeks to learn his sentence for molesting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral two decades ago. Victorian state County Court revoked Cardinal George Pell’s bail. The judge will deliver his sentence on March 13.

INDONESIA A court in Bali has sentenced an Australian man and his Indonesian girlfriend to five years and four months in prison each for possessing cocaine. Brandon Johnson, from Brisbane, and his girlfriend, Remi Purwanti, were arrested with 11.6 grams of cocaine separated into 13 plastic bags.

MYANMAR A French tourist was sentenced to one month in prison with hard labor, but he is expected to be released in about a week because of time he served while awaiting trial. Arthur Desclaux was arrested on Feb. 7 for flying a drone close to the capital’s parliament complex.

KASHMIR Pakistan’s military said it shot down two Indian warplanes in the disputed region of Kashmir and captured two pilots, raising tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to a level unseen in the last two decades.

USA Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen (pictured), is planning to tell a House committee that Trump knew ahead of time that WikiLeaks had emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

NIGERIA’s president was declared the clear winner of a second term in Africa’s largest democracy. While many frustrated Nigerians had said they wanted to give someone new a try, President Muhammadu Buhari, profited from his upright reputation in an oil-rich nation weary of politicians enriching themselves instead of the people.

EGYPT A locomotive crashed into a barrier at Cairo’s main train station at high speed yesterday, causing its fuel tank to explode and triggering a huge fire, leaving at least 25 people dead, officials said.