World briefs

China-US Chinese importers are asking U.S. suppliers for prices of soybeans, pork and other farm goods, the Commerce Ministry said yesterday, in a possible goodwill gesture ahead of talks aimed at ending a tariff war. 

New Zealand Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, who helped wrest power from the royal family and bring greater democracy to the small Pacific island nation, died yesterday at 78. Pohiva died at the Auckland City Hospital at about 9 a.m. after being medically evacuated to New Zealand a day earlier.

Afghanistan  A Taliban suicide car bomber has targeted an Afghan special forces base on the outskirts of Kabul, killing at least four troops. Authorities also said three other soldiers were wounded in yesterday’s attack in the Chahar Asyab district in Kabul province.

Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders agree that they want a deal with the United States, but some among them are in more of a hurry than others. Even before Trump over the weekend cancelled a mysterious Camp David summit, the Taliban negotiators were at odds with their council of leaders. More on p15

9/11 Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to attack U.S., European, Israeli and Russian targets in a speech on the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. In a video released by the militant group, the 68-year-old al-Zawahri also criticizes “backtrackers” from jihad.

Israel Facebook says it has sanctioned the page of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because of a violation of the company’s hate speech policy. Facebook said yesterday that the social network had suspended for 24 hours the page’s bot, or automated chat function.

UK The British government insisted yesterday that its forecast of food and medicine shortages, gridlock at ports and riots in the streets after a no-deal Brexit is an avoidable worst-case scenario, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied misleading the Queen Elizabeth II about his reasons for suspending Parliament.

Zimbabwe Controversy over where and when  former president Robert Mugabe will be buried has overshadowed arrangements for Zimbabweans to pay their respects to the deceased leader. Mugabe will not be given a state burial on Sunday at the national Heroes’ Acre site, family spokesman Leo Mugabe announced yesterday.