World briefs

CHINA announces the birth of extremely rare panda triplets in a further success for the country’s artificial breeding program. The three cubs were born July 29 in the southern city of Guangzhou, but breeders delayed an announcement until they were sure all three would survive, the official China News Service says.

GAZA A temporary Israel-Hamas truce is holding for a second day as marathon, indirect negotiations on a lasting cease-fire and a long-term solution for the battered Gaza Strip are expected to continue in Cairo.

MYANMAR Authorities in Myanmar’s second-largest city of Mandalay lift a curfew imposed after attacks on minority Muslims left two people dead and injured 14 others. The rioting in early July was triggered by rumors that two Muslim men had raped a Buddhist woman. Mobs torched homes and shops, prompting authorities on July 3 to impose an overnight curfew in seven townships. The Home Ministry later said a man had falsely accused the two men of raping a woman due to a grudge against them.

PHILIPPINES Security forces capture a fugitive former army general wanted in the kidnapping of two students, fulfilling a promise by President Benigno Aquino III to bring high-profile criminal suspects to justice. Officials said military intelligence and National Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Jovito Palparan at a hideout in a district of Manila.

IRAQ  Incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki looks increasingly isolated as he fights to stay in power while Iraqi politicians and the international community rally behind a Shiite premier-designate who could be a more unifying figure badly needed if the nation is to confront a spreading onslaught and land grab by Sunni militants from the Islamic State group.

IRAQ Military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi has told state television that an Iraqi helicopter delivering aid to displaced Yazidis on Sinjar mountain has crashed. Tens of thousands from the minority Yazidi sect have fled their homes after invading militants from the Islamic State group gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam or be killed.

SWITZERLAND The president of the U.N. top human rights body says the commission on possible violations of the rules of war in Gaza is “operational” despite the decision by George Clooney’s fiancée to pull out of the panel. British-Lebanese lawyer Amal Alamuddin, who is engaged to marry the 53-year-old actor, decided she couldn’t accept the role a few hours after she was appointed as one of three commissioners, said Gabon Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella, who presides over the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.