World briefs

The background students are depicting the worker and farmer

NORTH KOREA said it won’t surrender to U.S.-led sanctions and accused Washington of trying to “bring us to our knees.” The statement is yet another reminder that North Korea keeps mistrust of the U.S. though its leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump recently exchanged letters.

PAKISTAN The Taliban stormed a police station in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Baluchistan yesterday, triggering a shootout that killed a policeman and all three assailants, authorities said. At least one other policeman was wounded in the attack in the town of Loralai.

AFGHANISTAN U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) said that Washington is hopeful a peace agreement to bring an end to the 17-year war in Afghanistan can be reached before Sept. 1. Pompeo, in a brief visit to Afghanistan, spoke just days before the start of a fresh round of talks between Washington’s peace envoy and the Taliban in Qatar.

AUSTRALIA’s three largest media organizations joined forces to demand legal reforms that would prevent journalists from risking imprisonment for doing their jobs. The demands came after unprecedented raids against media organizations by police searching for leaked documents that some say were deeply embarrassing to the government.

USA Former special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify publicly before Congress on July 17 after Democrats issued subpoenas to compel him to appear, the chairmen of two House committees announced. 

GERMANY Large parts of western and central Europe sweltered in scorching weather, with German authorities imposing autobahn speed limits amid fears of buckling road surfaces and some French schools staying closed as a precaution. Temperatures could top 40 degrees C in parts of the continent over the coming. 

TENNIS Roger Federer (pictured) has been seeded above Rafael Nadal for Wimbledon, despite the Spaniard being higher in the rankings. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic is seeded No. 1, with Federer second and Nadal third — a reverse of their rankings. Kevin Anderson, a Wimbledon finalist last year, is fourth.