World Briefs

CHINA has put on display the latest twin pandas born through artificial insemination as part of efforts to boost the numbers of its unofficial national mascot. Still mostly hairless and with their eyes yet to open, the sisters were met by adoring fans at a breeding center in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Tuesday. Their mother, seven-year old Kelin, gave birth to the twins early Monday.

PAKISTAN A spokesman for the international aid group Save the Children says Pakistan’s government has allowed it to reopen its locked offices.

PHILIPPINES Two Philippine soldiers are killed and three others wounded in bomb attacks by Abu Sayyaf militants in a southern province.

AUSTRALIA-IRAQ  Australia’s prime minister says he felt for the five children of an Australian convicted terrorist in the Islamic State movement who became notorious last year for posing for photographs while clutching the severed heads of Syrian victims.

France  Traffic has resumed in the tunnel beneath the English Channel, but lines are still long for trucks traveling between Britain and France following a day of disruption by striking port workers. Illegal migrants trying to sneak across to Britain are taking advantage of the snail’s-pace traffic to sneak onto trucks boarding the shuttle trains that carry them through the tunnel.

IRAN The United States and other nations negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran are ready to offer high-tech reactors and other state-of-the-art equipment to Tehran if it agrees to crimp programs that can make atomic arms, according to a confidential document obtained by The Associated Press.

IRAN’s ayatollah has hardened his stance in nuclear negotiations with world powers as a deadline for a final deal rapidly approach, saying he rejects a long-term freeze on nuclear research and wants to ban international inspectors from accessing military sites.

ARMENIA A standoff between police and demonstrators protesting a hike in electricity prices blocked the central avenue in the Armenia capital yesterday for a third straight day.

GREECE’s leader is trying to bridge differences with creditors on a plan to make more reforms in Greece in exchange for bailout loans the country needs to avoid a potentially disastrous default next week.

USA Having agreed to consider removing the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s Statehouse, lawmakers are now focusing their attention on saying goodbye to a colleague whose slaying in a mass church shooting has reignited debate about Civil War symbols in the South.

UK Royal officials say Queen Elizabeth II may have to move out of Buckingham Palace during much-needed renovations to the residence, which has not been redecorated since she took the throne in 1952. Officials say the palace needs an estimated 150 million pounds (USD237 million) of upgrades, including replacing old plumbing and wiring and removing asbestos.