World briefs

China appealed to Washington for a quick end to their trade war but gave no indication yesterday what additional steps Beijing might want before carrying out what President Donald Trump says is a promise to buy up to $50 billion of American farm goods.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte fell off his parked motorcycle on the palace grounds, suffering bruises and scratches, but the minor injuries won’t affect his schedule, his spokesman said yesterday.

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday visited northern towns devasted by the deadly typhoon and promised residents his government’s support for their speedy recovery.

Pakistan Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate toured Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore yesterday, where they are set to visit a cancer hospital previously visited by William’s mother, the late Princess Diana.

Iraq The government will only take back its own citizens and their families who fought with the Islamic State group in Syria, not those from other countries, Iraq’s foreign minister said yesterday.

Spain Catalonia’s separatist leader vowed yesterday to hold a new vote to secede from Spain in less than two years as the embattled northeastern region grapples with a wave of violence that has tarnished a movement proud of its peaceful activism.

Germany From his post as a teenage SS private in a watchtower in Nazi Germany’s Stutthof concentration camp, Bruno Dey could hear the screams of Jews dying in the gas chamber. And, Dey later told investigators, the carting of their lifeless bodies to the camp’s crematorium was a daily sight.

Russia The foreign ministry says police stopped three American diplomats trying to enter an area of northern Russia where a secrecy-shrouded explosion at a navy range caused a brief spike in radioactivity levels.

UK French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the new Brexit deal but warned that the agreement still faces major hurdles in both the U.K. and EU parliaments.

USA The U.S. ambassador to the European Union distanced himself yesterday from President Donald Trump, planning to tell House impeachment investigators that he was disappointed Trump directed him to work with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine policy and that he believes it’s wrong to invite a foreign government to conduct investigations for the purpose of influencing American elections.