World briefs

CHINA’s Foreign Ministry says a Chinese cargo ship was carrying legitimate military items when it was stopped in Colombia on its way to Cuba. Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said yesterday that the items were part of “normal military trade” between China and Cuba and did not violate Chinese law or any of the country’s international obligations. Reports in Colombia said the ship was carrying 100 tons of gunpowder, shell casings and detonators when it was stopped Saturday at a Colombian port.

AUSTRALIA-CHINA  Australian authorities are clamping down on wealthy foreigners illegally buying real estate, ordering a Chinese billionaire to sell a Sydney mansion he recently bought for USD30 million. The billionaire, Hui Ka Yan, 56, is chairman of Hong Kong-listed real estate developer Evergrande Real Estate Group, which is based in Guangzhou, China. He is listed by Forbes as China’s 15 wealthiest person with a fortune of $6.4 billion.

AUSTRALIA’s highest court clears the way for a radio station to face penalties over a 2012 prank call to a London hospital that was caring for the Duchess of Cambridge. A nurse who transferred the call committed suicide after the broadcast. Two Australian DJs from radio station 2DayFM impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles when they phoned the hospital to ask about Kate’s condition. MYANMAR Police formed a human chain across a road leading to Myanmar’s biggest city yesterday, telling hundreds of student protesters that authorities would “take action” unless they dispersed. The standoff in front of a monastery in Letpadan, 140km from Yangon, entered its third day, with no sign either side was ready to back down. Students — determined to march to Yangon to push demands for education reform — responded defiantly shouted “This is our cause! We will win!”

JAPAN The world’s oldest person says 117 years doesn’t seem like such a long time. Misao Okawa, the daughter of a kimono maker, made the comment yesterday, at a celebration a day before her 117th birthday. Appropriately, she was wearing a pink kimono decorated with cherry blossom prints. Okawa, born in Osaka on March 5, 1898, was recognized as the world’s oldest person by Guinness World Records in 2013.

NEPAL A Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog in the Nepalese capital yesterday skidded off a slippery runway but there were no serious injuries, officials said.

JAPAN Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen and his research team have found a massive Japanese World War II battleship off the Philippines near where it sank more than 70 years ago, his representatives say. The apparent discovery of the wreckage of the Musashi, one of the largest battleships in history, comes as the world marks the 70th anniversary of the war’s end.

UKRAINE An explosion ripped through a coal mine before dawn in war-torn eastern Ukraine, killing at least one miner and trapping more than 30 others underground, rebel and government officials said. More on p15

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin says that the killing of a key opposition figure is a “disgrace” to Russia. It was Putin’s first public remark on the subject.

FRANCE A top European human rights body says France isn’t doing enough to prevent spanking and other kinds of corporal punishment of children.

UK  Britain’s government has agreed to sell its stake in Eurostar, the high-speed rail service that connects London, Paris and Brussels, for 757 million pounds (USD1.1 billion), wrapping up a major deal months before the general election.

USA The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a major test of President Barack Obama’s health overhaul that threatens insurance coverage for millions of people. The justices were meeting yesterday to try to determine whether the law makes people in all 50 states eligible for federal tax subsidies to cut the cost of insurance premiums.