World Briefs

CHINA  Action star Jackie Chan says that he intends to work with his son on a movie and an album as the pair mend their relationship after Jaycee was locked up on a drugs charge. Jaycee Chan was released from a six-month prison sentence in February after allowing others to use marijuana at his Beijing apartment. The Hong Kong actor said he was looking for suitable movie projects for his son and in the meantime Jaycee, 32, would produce one of his records. He also said he hoped his son would duet with him on one of the tracks.

PAKISTAN The death toll from flash floods triggered by seasonal monsoon rains in various parts of Pakistan has risen to 118 and floodwater has inundated vast areas, leaving tens of thousands homeless, authorities said yesterday. The National Disaster Management Authority said the flooding has affected more than 800,000 people in 2,275 villages. About 2,900 houses have collapsed or are partially damaged.

AFGHANISTAN The confirmed death of the Taliban’s reclusive one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has weakened the movement, giving Kabul an opportunity to step up the battle against the insurgency, an Afghan governor and one of the country’s most powerful former warlords said yesterday. “Defeating the Taliban is a very real possibility right now and this is the right moment to fight against the Taliban,” Atta Mohammad Noor told The Associated Press.

ZIMBABWE A Zimbabwean safari operator accused of facilitating an illegal lion hunt for an American citizen in April denies the bow and arrow kill was unlawful and says his client acted in “good faith.” Landowner Headman Sibanda said yesterday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that his client, Jan Casimir Seski of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, didn’t break any law during his Zimbabwean hunt. Sibanda says the relevant paperwork was in place for Seski’s hunt.

SPAIN A Moroccan man died from suffocation while being smuggled into Spain by his brother inside a suitcase that was in the trunk of a car on a ferry crossing, authorities said yesterday. Francisco Jerez, spokesman for the Interior Ministry’s office in Almeria, said the 27-year-old man was found late Sunday when his brother sought medical help for him just before the ferry arrived in the southern Spanish port. Jerez added that the brother, a Moroccan with a French passport, was arrested.

UK A British judge sentenced a former Citibank and UBS trader to 14 years in prison yesterday after a jury found him guilty of masterminding the manipulation of a key interest rate, the London Interbank Lending Rate, or Libor.

USA A hearse is carrying the body of Bobbi Kristina Brown to her final resting place. The car left a funeral home in Newark yesterday followed by two SUVs carrying relatives, including cousin Dionne Warwick. This is the same funeral home that handled arrangements three years ago for her mother, Whitney Houston. The funeral home declined to comment about Brown’s expected burial next to her mother in Fairview Cemetery in Westfield. Police have closed the road leading to the cemetery.