World briefs

CHINA-UK Buckingham Palace says Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife have accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II to make a state visit to the United Kingdom in October. The palace said yesterday that Xi and Peng Liyuan will reside at Buckingham Palace in central London during the visit.

CHINA-TAIWAN Mainland authorities have ruled out the possibility of its citizens being allowed to gamble in Taiwan, as casinos are mooted on one of a number of Taiwanese islands which have recently been made more accessible to mainland tourists. Mainland regulations and cross-Strait agreements are consistent in prohibiting mainland tourists from gambling in Taiwan, said Fan Liqing, spokesperson with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a regular press conference yesterday.

MYANMAR Several hundred protesters led by monks yesterday denied that boat people arriving on Southeast Asian shores are Rohingya Muslims, a religious minority the government and many others in the predominantly Buddhist nation say does not exist. About 30 radical Buddhist monks led the rally in Yangon.

AFGHANISTAN  An all-night siege in an upscale neighborhood of Afghanistan’s capital ended in the early hours of yesterday morning with the deaths of four heavily armed Taliban attackers, though no civilians or security personnel were injured or killed, an Afghan official said. Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi said that weapons had been seized, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three automatic rifles and a hand grenade.

THAILAND Authorities revoke two passports belonging to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra following an interview he gave in South Korea they said could harm national security.

BELGIUM The European Union moved yesterday to help Italy and Greece manage a massive influx of migrants across the Mediterranean and oblige reluctant EU partners to share the refugee burden. In a two-pronged proposal aimed at redistributing the refugee load, the EU’s executive commission suggested that 40,000 Syrians and Eritreans newly arrived in Europe be redistributed away from Italy and Greece over the next two years. A further 20,000 people would be shared out among the 28 EU nations.

ISRAEL Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday stepped down from his post as the international community’s Mideast envoy, officials said, ending a term that began with great promise but which struggled to deliver dramatic changes in its quest to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The officials said Blair had written a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to confirm his resignation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement, which was expected later yesterday at a meeting of Quartet officials in Brussels.

VATICAN CITY  The Vatican’s secretary of state has called the Irish vote to legalize gay marriage a “defeat for humanity.” Cardinal Pietro Parolin said he personally was saddened by the landslide decision, in which more than 62 percent of voters in the Roman Catholic country voted “yes.”

AUSTRIA  An Austrian court has found a 14-year-old boy guilty of planning to blow up Vienna’s main railway station after being radicalized by Islamic extremists. The regional court in the city of St. Poelten tried the teenager, who is of Turkish origin, on charges of terrorist association and intent to commit a terrorist offense, with a full sentence of two years.

DENMARK  A Danish radio station has faced a storm of angry protests after two of its hosts claimed they clubbed a young rabbit to death on air with a bicycle pump. Co-host Kristoffer Eriksen from public broadcaster Radio24syv said the Monday morning show stunt was aimed at initiating a debate about “the vast hypocrisy surrounding our relationship with animals.”