World Briefs

CHINA’s trade with the United States is falling as the two sides prepare for negotiations with no signs of progress toward ending a tariff war that threatens global economic growth.

CHINA A moderate earthquake struck China’s mountainous southwest yesterday, killing at least one person and injuring 63.

SOUTH KOREA One of the most powerful typhoons to ever hit the Korean Peninsula has left five people dead and three injured in North Korea, state media reported yesterday, in its first public announcement of casualties since the storm made landfall in the country a day earlier. More on p13

IRAN The government defended its decision to use faster centrifuges prohibited by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, officials said yesterday, while underscoring that time was running out for Europe to save the unraveling accord.

SAUDIA ARABIA’s King Salman replaced the country’s energy minister with one of his own sons yesterday, naming Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman (pictured) to one of the most important positions in the country as oil prices remain below what is needed to keep up with government spending.

TURKEY-US Turkish and U.S. troops conducted their first joint ground patrol in northeastern Syria yesterday as part of a planned so-called “safe zone” that Ankara has been pressing for in the volatile region.

BOSNIA Sarajevo held its first LGBT pride parade yesterday without incidents but amid heavy security to prevent violence from extremist groups, as opponents of the event held a counter-rally.

RUSSIA Residents of Russia’s capital are voting in a city council election shadowed by a wave of protests that saw the biggest demonstrator turnout in seven years and a notably violent police response.

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis is pressing for the poor to have the dignity of work with a visit yesterday to a hilltop rock quarry in Madagascar where hundreds of people toil rather than scavenge in the biggest dump of the Indian Ocean nation’s capital.

UK A senior minister who quit British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet said that the government is making little or no effort to secure a Brexit agreement with the European Union, despite Johnson’s insistence that he wants a deal.

USA President Donald Trump said he canceled a secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders after a bombing in the past week in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier, and has called off peace negotiations with the insurgent group.