World briefs

NORTH KOREAN leader Kim Jong Un’s most trusted policy adviser apparently has been removed from one of his posts, a South Korean lawmaker said Wednesday, a possible personnel reshuffle in the wake of the breakdown of the North Korea-U.S. summit in February. 

CHINA’s government rejected accusations that it steals technology after a former General Electric Co. engineer and his Chinese business partner were indicted on charges of industrial spying in the U.S. The charges announced earlier this week come amid a tariff war between Beijing and Washington.

INDIA A moderate earthquake shook remote northeastern India near the border with China early yesterday, but no damage or casualties were immediately reported. U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Gavin Hayes said the area in Arunachal Pradesh state is sparsely populated so not many casualties or much damage was expected.

PAKISTAN A health official says two new polio cases have been reported in the country’s northwest despite efforts against the crippling disease. The announcement came as gunmen killed a policeman escorting polio workers in Buner, a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, yesterday.

PHILIPPINES President Duterte threatened to ship truckloads of garbage back to Canada and dump some of it at Canada’s embassy in Manila if Canadian officials don’t take back the waste that Filipino officials say was illegally transported to the country years ago. More than 100 containers of household trash were shipped from Canada to the Philippines in 2013-14.

AFGHANISTAN Afghan and international forces have killed more civilians in the war with the Taliban and other militants in the first three months of this year – the first time deaths caused by government forces and their allies have exceeded those of their enemies, a new U.N. report says. 

GRAND CANYON Another visitor to Grand Canyon National Park has died after falling over the edge of the South Rim, authorities said. A 70-year-old woman fell about 61 meters over the rim, the second over-the-edge death this month within the confines of the park, according to the park officials.

JAGUAR Land Rover is facing stiff headwinds in the U.K. and in China, the world’s largest car market, but the storied British automaker sees the U.S. as a relative oasis. Plummeting China sales, Brexit tremors and tightening European emissions rules forced JLR parent Tata Motors to take a record USD3.9b writedown last year. But sales in the U.S. rose 7.3% to a record of almost 123,000 vehicles.