World briefs

CHINA-US Top U.S. trade and economic officials will visit China next week for another round of negotiations, a White House official said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will lead the delegation.

CHINA-VATICAN The Holy See is greeting the visit to Italy of Xi Jinping later this week with a new round of overtures and says the “door is always open” to dialogue. Italian media have been speculating for days about the possibility of a meeting between Xi and Pope Francis. 

JAPAN Rights Watch urged Tokyo yesterday to drop its requirement that transgender people be sterilized before their gender is changed on official documents.

MEXICO President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (pictured) said that talks with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner have led to advances toward an agreement that would have the U.S. government guarantee some USD10 billion in development investments for Mexico and Central America.

USA Arizona authorities say a woman, Machelle Hackney (pictured), has been arrested on allegations of using pepper spray to discipline her seven adopted children and locking them for days inside a closet.

BOSNIA United Nations appeals judges upheld the convictions of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (pictured) for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and increased his sentence from 40 years to life imprisonment. Karadzic showed almost no reaction as a judge in Denmark read out a damning judgment.

FRANCE President Emmanuel Macron announced that soldiers will be deployed across the country to help maintain security during yellow vest protests planned this weekend. Macron said the military will secure government buildings and other sites to allow police forces to focus on maintaining public order.

FINLAND has topped an index of the happiest nations for the second consecutive year, with researchers saying the small Nordic country of 5.5 million has succeeded in generating a happiness recipe for a balanced life not simply dependent on economic and material wealth.