World Briefs

BELGIUM-CHINA China is already the No. 2 trading partner of the European Union, but EU leaders are using a summit in Brussels to call for even more trade and investment. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang is visiting the EU to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of official ties with Beijing.

AFGHANISTAN An Afghan official says 11 soldiers were killed in an ambush by Taliban insurgents in a western province that borders Iran.

SYRIA  Fewer than 100 Syrian rebels are currently being trained by the U.S. military to fight the Islamic State group — a tiny total for a sputtering program with a stated goal of producing 5,400 fighters a year.

ISRAEL A Palestinian held without charges by Israel for the past year is ending a 55-day hunger strike and in exchange will be released in two weeks, his wife and an advocacy group for prisoners say.

ISRAEL’s navy intercepted a Swedish vessel attempting to breach a naval blockade of Gaza early yesterday and was redirecting it to an Israeli port, the military and the activists said. The military said that after exhausting all diplomatic efforts, the government ordered it to block the vessel. Israeli naval forces boarded the Marianne ship and searched it in international waters without needing to use any force, the military said.

KUWAIT Authorities identify the suicide bomber behind an attack on a Shiite mosque that killed 27 people as a Saudi citizen who flew into the Gulf nation just hours before blowing himself up.

EGYPT A bomb attack in a busy, upscale Cairo suburb targets the convoy of Egypt’s prosecutor general, a security official says.

EGYPT A court will issue its final verdict on July 30 in the re-trial of three Al-Jazeera English journalists on terrorism-related charges. Judge Hassan Farid made the announcement yesterday after defense lawyers wrapped up their arguments in a case that has captured international attention. Canadian national Mohammed Fahmy, who was Al-Jazeera’s Cairo acting bureau chief, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed are being tried on charges of being part of a terrorist group and airing falsified footage intended to damage national security.

CHAD  Residents say two blasts went off in the capital of Chad, killing at least 11 people, including five police. Souleymane Brahim said yesterday the first explosion hit N’Djamena early in the morning, followed by a second one. He said gunfire was heard after the explosions. Several residents confirmed that they saw at least 11 bodies, including five police officers.

USA The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the use of a controversial drug that has been implicated in several botched executions. The justices yesterday voted 5-4 in a case from Oklahoma that the sedative midazolam can be used in executions without violating a constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

TUNISIA Seven people are being interrogated in Tunisia’s capital in the investigation into a deadly beach resort attack that killed 38 people, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation. The person close to the investigation said that four people were arrested yesterday — two in the resort town of Sousse where the attack occurred, one in the capital Tunis, and one in the restive city of Kasserine. Three others were arrested Sunday.

PORTUGAL  Spain and Portugal both issued weather alerts yesterday, advising residents to take extra care as temperatures soared above 40 C (104 F) in some southern areas. The Iberian Peninsula was sweltering in a heat wave brought on by a mass of hot air flowing north from Africa to Europe in recent days, though recorded temperatures fell shy of the day’s forecast of a maximum 44 C.