World Briefs

CHINA President Xi Jinping promised more gradual market-opening steps at the start of an import fair yesterday but no initiatives on technology policy and other irritants that sparked a tariff war with Washington. More on p10

CAMBODIA’s most prominent opposition politician says he’s ready to risk imprisonment or death by returning to his country from self-imposed exile to unseat the country’s longtime ruler.

AFGHANISTAN President Ashraf Ghani and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi have discussed a planned meeting in Beijing that would include Afghan figures and Taliban representatives.

IRAN will start injecting uranium gas into over a thousand centrifuges at a fortified nuclear facility built inside a mountain, the country’s president announced yesterday in Tehran’s latest step away from its atomic accord with world powers since President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal over a year ago.

BOSNIA Several dozen survivors of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war have protested in Sarajevo, urging the Nobel Committee to reverse its decision to award the 2019 Nobel Prize in literature to Austrian writer Peter Handke.

TURKEY President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called yesterday for Russia and the United States to keep to their promises and ensure that Syrian Kurdish fighters pull out of a so-called safe zone along Syria’s northern border with Turkey.

HUNGARYs foreign minister says China’s Huawei will take part in the construction of the country’s next-generation 5G wireless network.

VATICAN CITY French bishops are considering a plan to provide financial compensation to victims of church sex abuse. The 120 bishops convening for their biannual assembly in Lourdes will spend tomorrow and Friday discussing the plan for a “financial gesture” toward victims.

EU The head of the European Parliament says there is still hope for Balkan countries to join the European Union, and urged for membership talks to open soon with North Macedonia and Albania.

UK The former head of the U.K. domestic spy agency is urging the government to publish a report into alleged Russian interference in Britain’s democratic process.