World briefs

China and the West clashed at the U.N. human rights committee over claims that Beijing systematically oppresses ethnic minority Muslims in far western Xinjiang province.

Myanmar A court has sentenced five members of a traditional theatrical troupe to a year in prison for their gibes about the military.

Cambodia The police chief for the Cambodian province where British tourist Amelia Bambridge disappeared last week says he fears she has drowned, but land and sea searches for her will continue.

Nepal A mountaineer who smashed the speed record for climbing the world’s 14 highest peaks returned safely to Nepal’s capital yesterday but said he plans to return to the mountains in three days to guide his clients. More on p18

Pakistan Authorities deployed police and put shipping containers in the capital Islamabad ahead of the arrival of a massive anti-government protest caravan.

Bolivia The government says the Organization of American States is sending a 30-person team to audit a presidential election that the opposition says was rigged to ensure the re-election of leftist President Evo Morales.

South Africa Police in Cape Town used water cannons yesterday while dispersing and arresting hundreds of foreigners, including children, who have camped for weeks outside the U.N. refugee agency’s office.

Turkey yesterday condemned two resolutions passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that symbolize deteriorating Turkish-American relations. Addressing his ruling party, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wouldn’t recognize the nonbinding resolution to recognize the century-old mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide, and a bill to sanction senior Turkish officials and its army for Turkey’s military incursion into northeastern Syria.

Syria Joint Turkish-Russian patrols will begin tomorrow in northeastern Syria, following a Russian-brokered cease-fire that promised to have Syrian Kurdish forces withdraw to the south, Turkey’s president said yesterday.

Denmark said yesterday that it is giving permission for a joint German-Russian underwater gas pipeline to be laid to through its territory, in a blow to the United States, which had fiercely opposed the project.

UK British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn traded barbs over Brexit and public spending yesterday as campaigning unofficially kicked off for the country’s crucial yet unpredictable Dec. 12 general election.

US A new large wildfire broke out yesterday in Southern California amid gusty winds, forcing the evacuation of the Ronald Regain Presidential Library and nearby homes.