World briefs

CHINA Shanghai will allow private-car hailing services via mobile apps starting next month, the first city in China to legitimize an industry popularized in the US by Uber. Drivers for Didi and Kuaidi, the two leading Chinese car-hailing apps that recently merged, will be registered under the same information technology platform for taxis, removing their status as “pirate cabs” or “black cars,” according to a statement posted on the Shanghai government’s website.

MYANMAR’s army chief blames ethnic Kokang rebels for shelling attacks in southwestern China that he said aimed to damage relations between China and Myanmar.

AFGHANISTAN An Afghan judge sentences 11 policemen to one year in prison for dereliction of duty during the mob killing of a woman in Kabul who was falsely accused of burning a Quran.

CAMBODIA At least 18 garment workers are killed and nearly two dozen injured when their van is hit by a speeding bus, prompting a plea from Prime Minister Hun Sen for drivers to slow down to make the country’s roads safer.

THAILAND Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra enters a plea of not guilty at the start of a trial that could see her jailed for a decade, which critics say is part of a politically motivated campaign against her family. More on p12

N KOREA  A group of female peace activists including Gloria Steinem and two Nobel laureates arrive in North Korea’s capital for a march across the Demilitarized Zone that they hope will bring world attention to calls for a resolution to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

IRAQI forces and allied Sunni tribesmen repelled an Islamic State attack overnight on a town west of Baghdad, a tribal leader said yesterday, as the government renewed its commitment to arm anti-militant Sunni tribes following the loss of the key city of Ramadi.

AUSTRALIA’s prime minister yesterday talked down the possibility of homesick Australian foreign fighters returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, warning that they could pose a threat at home.

VIETNAM  Police in central Vietnam detain two South Korean managers for the Samsung Group over a scaffolding collapse in March that killed 13 workers and injured dozens.

NORTHERN IRELAND A Northern Ireland bakery was found guilty yesterday of discrimination for refusing to bake a cake bearing the slogan “Support Gay Marriage” — a verdict welcomed by human rights activists but denounced by Christian fundamentalists in the British territory.

UK In London Airbnb is sailing a bright blue house down the river Thames featuring a garden and an apple tree to celebrate the passing of the Deregulation Act, which gives London residents permission to rent their homes for up to 90 days.