World briefs

China A smiling panda and a walking Chinese lantern will be the mascots for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing. 

Indonesia is sending 547 containers of waste back to wealthy nations after discovering they were contaminated with used plastic and hazardous materials, amid a growing backlash in Southeast Asia against being a dumping ground for the developed world’s trash.

Japan’s exports fell 8% in August from a year earlier, as trade tensions took a growing toll on demand across the region.

South Korea yesterday dropped Japan from a list of countries receiving fast-track approvals in trade, a reaction to Tokyo’s decision to downgrade Seoul’s trade status amid a tense diplomatic dispute.

Afghanistan Militants attempted to storm a government office in a provincial capital of eastern Afghanistan, setting off a suicide bombing and running gun battle with security forces, Afghan officials said.

India The government yesterday decided to ban e-cigarettes, expressing concern at the alarming rate at which vaping is becoming popular among the country’s youth and causing breathing illnesses.

Pakistan’s prime minister says he will urge U.S. President Donald Trump to resume peace talks with the Taliban when he meets with him next week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Zimbabwe Local doctors protesting the alleged abduction of a union leader were met by a line of baton-wielding police in the capital yesterday as fears grow about government repression.

EU European Parliament lawmakers yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favor of another Brexit delay if Britain requests one and certain conditions are met, after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told the chamber that a no-deal scenario remains “very real.”

Bosnia Prosecutors have opened an organized crime investigation into the unresolved death of a student that has sparked street protests and criticism from the European Union.

Denmark Police say they have arrested a 23-year-old man as a suspect in an explosion that damaged the headquarters of the Danish Tax Agency and slightly injured a bystander last month.

Spain’s air force says that a student pilot and her instructor have both died when their plane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.