World briefs

CHINA A bus carrying an opera troupe fell off a cliff in central China yesterday, killing 20 people and injuring 13, state media reported. The accident happened early yesterday in Linzhou city in Henan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

NEPAL Human waste left by climbers on Mount Everest has become a problem that is causing pollution and threatening to spread disease on the world’s highest peak, the chief of Nepal’s mountaineering association said yesterday.

MYANMAR Hundreds of police have formed a human chain around student protesters staging a sit-in on a road yesterday after being blocked from marching to Myanmar’s biggest city.

AUSTRALIA-IRAQ Australia will send more troops to Iraq to help train local security forces in their battle against the Islamic State group, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday.

PHILIPPINES The Philippine government has ordered the suspension of all exploration at an offshore oil and gas field because of an ongoing territorial dispute with China, a Filipino-British company said.

INDONESIA is nearly ready to execute by firing squad nine foreigners and an Indonesian condemned for drug smuggling as diplomatic squabbles persist over the executions. The preparations at the execution site have been completed and four foreign convicts will be transferred to Nusakambangan Island’s maximum-security prison facilities this week, said Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo.

USA-ISRAEL Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress on Tuesday that negotiations underway between Iran and the United States would “all but guarantee” that Tehran will get nuclear weapons, a step that the world must avoid at all costs.

USA The U.S. state of Georgia postpones its first execution of a woman in 70 years because of concerns about the drug to be used in the lethal injection.

RUSSIA One by one, thousands of mourners and dignitaries filed past the white-lined coffin of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, many offering flowers as they paid their last respects to one of the most prominent figures of Russia’s beleaguered opposition.

CHILE A volcano in southern Chile erupted early yesterday, spewing heavy smoke and lava and prompting officials to evacuate thousands of people in the surrounding area.

UK Audio tapes have surfaced in which a man identified as “Jihadi John” complains about scrutiny from British intelligence services. The tapes contained a man identified as Mohammed Emwazi describing to the Muslim advocacy group CAGE his encounters with British agents in 2009.