World briefs

CHINA An earthquake in the eastern Chinese city of Fuyang has killed two people and damaged thousands of homes. The quake struck in the Anhui province city Saturday afternoon, and 13 people also were injured, officials in the city said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured magnitude 4.7.

CHINA-MYANMAR Myanmar denies its warplane bombed inside China during counter-insurgency offensive on the border, as Beijing warns it views the matter “very seriously.” More on p11

SAUDI ARABIA The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and two other diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia are cancelling all consular services for two days over security fears. The Embassy says it and missions in Jiddah and Dhahran would provide no consular services yesterday and today due to “heightened security concerns.” It did not elaborate.

MYANMAR A crowded double-decker passenger ferry capsized in northwestern Myanmar after being slammed by huge waves, killing 34 people and leaving more than a dozen missing, officials and state television said Saturday. Rescuers pulled 167 survivors from the sea and brought them to safety after the Aung Tagun 3 went down near Myebon in Rakhine state late Friday.

SRI LANKA  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sri Lanka’s former civil war zone on Saturday, in a sign of solidarity with minority Tamils who are calling for regional autonomy to end a decades-old ethnic conflict.

BRAZIL A bus carrying about 50 passengers plunged down into a deep ravine in the mountains of southeastern Brazil late Saturday, killing at least 40 people a police official said.

SIERRA LEONE Ten clinicians with a Boston-based nonprofit organization responding to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone are to be transported to the United States after one of their colleagues was infected with the deadly disease. Partners in Health said in a statement Saturday that the medical workers would be evacuated on non-commercial aircraft and isolated in Ebola treatment facilities.

IRAQ The Kurdish government says the Islamic State group used chlorine gas as a chemical weapon against peshmerga fighters. Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces engage in fierce clashes with the extremists as they continue their offensive to retake Tikrit.