World Briefs

CHINA People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said the yuan is at an “appropriate level” and cross-border capital flows have stayed balanced since the currency weakened past 7 per dollar in early August.

US-CHINA U.S. lawmakers from both parties slammed Apple Inc. and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook for “censorship of apps” at the “behest of the Chinese government.”

INDONESIA President Joko Widodo, who rose from poverty and pledged to champion democracy, fight entrenched corruption and modernize the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, was sworn in yesterday for his second and final five-year term with a pledge to take bolder actions. More on p13

SYRIA Kurdish fighters and civilians began evacuating from a besieged Syrian town yesterday, the first pullback under the U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal, opening the way to a broader withdrawal of the Kurdish-led forces from parts of the Turkish border.

PAKISTAN-INDIA Pakistani and Indian soldiers traded fire in disputed Kashmir yesterday, killing at least nine people on both sides, officials said.

AFGHANISTAN U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says that under current plans all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent its resurgence.

BOTSWANA The ruling party faces the tightest election of its history on Wednesday after former President Ian Khama, annoyed with his hand-picked successor, announced his support for the opposition, shaking up one of Africa’s most stable countries.

SWITZERLAND Voters are electing a new national parliament, with recent polls suggesting that green parties could fare well in a year when environmental concerns have swept across Europe.

ITALY Milan’s mayor is asking U.S. authorities to apologize for a World War II bombing raid that killed 184 elementary school children.

USA Witnesses have gathered in a small city in upstate New York over the past three weeks to testify in the trial of a man accused of strangling a young nursing student to death. But there is no jury, no American judge and the man accused is seated next to his defense attorney 2,200 miles away — in Nicaragua.

USA Responding to stinging criticism, President Donald Trump has abruptly reversed his plan to hold the next year’s Group of Seven world leaders’ meeting at his Doral golf resort in Florida. More on p15