World briefs

US-China A judge has denied a request to delay sentencing for a former University of Illinois student convicted in the kidnapping and murder of a visiting Chinese scholar U.S. District Judge James Shadid issued the ruling yesterday. Jurors last week convicted Brendt Christensen in the killing of Yingying Zhang.

China A tornado blew through a city in northeast China, damaging factories and buildings, killing six people and injuring another 190, state media reported yesterday. The tornado hit Kaiyuan, in Liaoning province, late Wednesday afternoon, local authorities said in a brief online statement.

Malaysia’s anti-graft agency said yesterday it has detained Riza Aziz (pictured), the stepson of former Prime Minister Najib Razak and a Hollywood film producer, and will charge him with money laundering.

Philippines The Commission on Human Rights yesterday condemned the killing of a 3-year-old girl in a police raid in which her father, a drug suspect, was gunned down along with another civilian and a police officer.

South Korea Tightened Japanese controls on exports of key materials used to make semiconductors and displays took effect yesterday, as South Korean officials vowed to fight back. The Japanese government ordered the more stringent approval process for shipments of photoresists and other key chemicals.

Australia Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said tax cuts passed by the Senate would be delivered and the government would achieve Australia s first annual budget surplus in the current fiscal years in more than a decade without reducing government spending.

India’s government said yesterday the economy is expected to grow at 7% in 2019-20, up from a five-year low of 6.8% in the past year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (pictured) presented the economic report in Parliament a day before unveiling the annual federal budget.

Putin emphasized historically strong ties with Italy before starting a one-day visit to Rome that includes a meeting with Pope Francis. Putin said in an interview published in Corriere della Sera that “we have a special relationship, tested by time, with Italy.”

Migrants The U.N. migration agency says a boat carrying 86 migrants from Libya sank in the Mediterranean overnight, and just three people on board survived, with 82 missing. The shipwreck off the Tunisian city of Zarzis came a day after a deadly airstrike on a Libyan detention center that killed at least 44 migrants.

UK A legal battle between the powerful, poetry-writing ruler of Dubai and his wealthy estranged wife is leading toward a showdown in a London courtroom later this month. The family division court case scheduled on July 30 pits Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum against Princess Haya.