World briefs

China Hackers with a history of state-sponsored espionage have intercepted the text messages of thousands of foreigners in a targeted campaign that planted eavesdropping software on a telecommunications provider’s servers, a cybersecurity firm said.

China said last night that reports that a professor leading a Beijing-backed language and culture institute in Belgium was involved in spying are untrue.

akistan A raging fire swept through a train in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab Province yesterday killing 74 people and survivors said afterward it took nearly 20 minutes for the train to stop amid contradictory reports about the condition of the train’s brakes.

Japan A fire broke out early yesterday and spread quickly through historic Shuri Castle on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, nearly destroying the UNESCO World Heritage site. Firefighters battled the blaze for about 12 hours before bringing it under control in the afternoon.

North Korea fired two projectiles into its eastern sea, an apparent resumption of weapons tests aimed at ramping up pressure on Washington over a stalemate in nuclear negotiations, according to officials in South Korea and Japan.

Syria The Islamic State group declared a new leader after it confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured)days earlier in a U.S raid in Syria. In its audio release by the IS central media arm, al-Furqan Foundation, a new spokesman for IS identifies the successor as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — tracing his lineage, like al-Baghdadi, to the Prophet Muhammad’s Quraysh tribe.

USA Strong winds fanned new Southern California wildfires, burning homes and forcing residents to flee their homes in a repeat of the frightening scenario already faced by tens of thousands across the state. The latest blazes erupted in the heavily populated inland region east of Los Angeles.

Spain’s interim leader has offered to have Madrid host an international U.N. climate summit next month that was originally scheduled to be held in Chile. Chilean President Sebastián Piñera yesterday [Macau time] canceled plans to host the Dec. 2-13 climate gathering, as well as a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, to focus on restoring security in his riot-struck country.

Germany Judges threw out a lawsuit by three farming families who had taken Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to court and argued that it wasn’t doing enough to tackle climate change. The suit was the first attempt in Germany to hold authorities legally accountable for pledges they have made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.