World Briefs

CHINA accuses the United States of meddling in its internal judicial affairs after the State Department urged Beijing to release prominent rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang who has been detained for a year without formal charges.

SINGAPORE A Singaporean teenager pleads not guilty to two charges over an online video he posted that was critical of Christianity and the nation’s late founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

AUSTRALIA Technological advances that have reduced prices and improved efficiency of renewable energy have helped transform the politics around climate change since 2009 when an attempt to forge a global deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions failed, the U.N. climate chief says.

AUSTRALIA Hundreds of cheering Australians crowd around Sydney’s Opera House to bid adieu to Britain’s Prince Harry as he wraps up a month-long embedment with the Australian army.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA A powerful earthquake rattles Papua New Guinea, the fourth strong quake to hit the South Pacific island nation in a week. Authorities issued a local tsunami warning but lifted it shortly afterward with no reports of damage.

JAPANESE authorities close part of a popular hot springs area because of fears a volcano might erupt.

JAPAN A Japanese zoo apologizes for naming a baby monkey Charlotte after the newborn British princess.

YEMEN Saudi Arabia and the United States yesterday announced a five-day, renewable cease-fire in Yemen’s war to allow aid to reach millions of civilians caught in a humanitarian crisis from the conflict. But the truce is dependent on Iran-backed rebels and their allies also agreeing to stop fighting, they said.

USA The bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by the government exceeds what Congress has allowed, a federal appeals court said yesterday as it asked Congress to step in and decide how best to protect national security and privacy interests. Secret NSA documents leaked in 2013 to journalists by contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the agency was collecting phone records and digital communications of millions of citizens not suspected of crimes and prompting congressional reform. Snowden remains exiled in Russia.

BURUNDI One person was killed yesterday in clashes in the Burundian capital during protests over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in office. Nkurunziza has said that if he is re-elected it will be his last term in office but his critics want him to drop his presidential bid, saying he has finished the two term limit allowed by law.