World briefs

AFGHANISTAN Taliban suicide bombers dressed as police officers attacked a police station Tuesday in Afghanistan, killing at least 20 people in the latest assault targeting local security forces, authorities said. The attack happened in Pul-i-Alam, the capital of Logar province, some 80 km east of Kabul. There, the first bomber detonated his explosives at the gate of the police headquarters, while a second blew himself up at a security checkpoint inside the compound, said Din Mohammad Darwesh, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

CHINA  Officials have put the brakes on some popular Chinese New Year events in big cities in the wake of a deadly stampede in Shanghai last month, leaving some observers complaining of a dampened mood and a kill-joy bureaucracy. More on p11
JAPAN A magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan early yesterday, triggering minor tsunamis but no reports of major damage or injuries. The Japan Meteorological Agency lifted a tsunami advisory two hours after it was issued following the quake.

JAPAN says it will provide USD15.5 million in development aid to support anti-terrorism efforts in the Middle East and Africa. The move comes after the recent beheadings of two Japanese hostages by militants from the Islamic State group.

FRANCE A French prosecutor has called for the acquittal of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (pictured) in his pimping trial in Lille —
a day after five of six plaintiffs dropped their accusations. Frederic Fevre said the former International Monetary Fund chief should be acquitted “pure and simple” — saying that “his notoriety shouldn’t be in any way a presumption of guilt.”

S KOREA’s president has replaced her point man on North Korea in a reshuffle that involved three other top officials. President Park Geun-hye’s office announced yesterday that presidential adviser Hong Yong Pyo has been nominated as the country’s new unification minister in charge of relations with Pyongyang.

EGYPT bombs Islamic State militants in neighboring Libya and called on the United States and Europe to join an international military intervention in the chaotic North African state after extremists beheaded a group of Egyptian Christians. The airstrikes bring Egypt overtly into Libya’s turmoil, a reflection of Cairo’s increasing alarm. Egypt now faces threats on two fronts — a growing stronghold of radicals on its western border and a militant insurgency of Islamic State allies on its eastern flank in the Sinai Peninsula — as well as its own internal challenges.

GREEK shares lead a European retreat as investors react negatively to the breakdown in talks between Greece and its creditors in the 19-nation eurozone over the country’s attempt to renegotiate its financial bailout.

DENMARK  Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, the slain gunman behind two deadly shooting attacks in Copenhagen was released from jail just two weeks ago and might have become radicalized there last summer, a source close to the Danish terror investigation tells The Associated Press.