World Briefs

CHINA A Beijing court yesterday sentenced two young men to up to five months in jail for dangerous driving after they crashed a Lamborghini and a Ferrari in a late-night race through Beijing. The Chaoyang District Court found Tang Wentian, 21, and Yu Muchun, 20, guilty of dangerously operating motor vehicles, a court statement said. Neither would appeal the verdicts, which sentenced Tang to five months in jail and Yu to four, the court said.

CHINA At least 15 people have been killed and thousands more forced from their homes by flooding in southern and central China and more rain has been forecast for coming days, officials said yesterday. Authorities said that Jiangxi province has been hardest hit, with eight people killed and 65,000 displaced. Just to the south, the Guangxi region suffered five deaths with six other people listed as missing.

INDONESIAN authorities blew up and sank 41 foreign fishing vessels Wednesday as a warning against poaching in the country’s waters. The boats, seized from Chinese, Malaysian, Philippine, Thai and Vietnamese fishermen, were blown up on National Awakening Day, which commemorates the first political movement toward Indonesia’s independence.

JAPAN Vying to keep pace with China’s rising influence and economic clout, Japan plans to provide USD110 billion to help develop roads, ports and other infrastructure in Asia in the next five years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday. Abe announced the commitment, which is on a par with the $100 billion China has set for its newly created Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, at a conference in Tokyo.

JAPAN The fishing town of Taiji will not stop its dolphin hunts, the mayor said yesterday, after Japan’s aquariums decided to stop buying captured dolphins under international pressure sparked by cruelty concerns.

LIBYA  A total of 19 Libyan soldiers were killed over the past 24 hours in the eastern city of Benghazi, during a new Libyan army push to retake the city from Islamic militants, officials said yesterday. Elsewhere in Libya, a local Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for a pair of suicide bombings.

LATVIA European Union leaders yesterday were to seek new ways to bolster ties with six post-communist nations in Eastern Europe, a year and a half after a previous summit of the Eastern Partnership ended with a fateful standoff over Ukraine. Just ahead of the two-day summit, the EU promised grants of 200 million euros (USD223 million) over the next 10 years to promote small and medium-sized businesses in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

LATVIA The U.N.’s fund for climate aid to developing countries says it now has enough cash to kick off projects before a key climate summit in Paris. Green Climate Fund officials said a Japanese commitment yesterday of USD1.5 billion pushed the fund’s resources beyond the threshold at which they can start financing projects in developing countries.

ITALY-TUNISIA The mystery over the migrant-turned-suspect in Tunisia’s Bardo Museum massacre intensified yesterday amid questions about his movements after arriving in Italy with a boat full of rescued refugees a month before the attack. As Italian officials defended their handling of Abdelmajid Touil, indications pointed to his presence in Italy in the days before and after the March 18 massacre.

UK Scotland Yard has charged eight suspects with conspiracy to burgle in the well-planned Easter weekend break-in at a safe-deposit box facility in London’s famed diamond district. Police say a ninth man has been freed on bail but is still facing questions.