World briefs

CHINA Russian army helicopters have landed in northern China to take part in multinational anti-terrorism drills, underscoring continuing close ties between Beijing and Moscow despite tensions with the West over Ukraine. Eight transport choppers landed Sunday night at Zhurihe, China’s largest and most modern training base, located in the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday.

PAKISTAN Twin protests demanding the Pakistani government step down are wreaking havoc in the capital, Islamabad, where commuters must circumvent shipping containers and barbed wire to get to work, protesters knock on people’s doors to use the bathroom, and garbage is piling up. Tens of thousands have descended on the capital in recent days, answering the call from cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan and anti-government cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri to push for the government’s ouster.

PHILIPPINES The Philippines will file a new diplomatic protest with China complaining about frequent patrols by Chinese ships in the South China Sea, the Department of Foreign Affairs says. More on p12

JAPAN is looking into reports that a Japanese man may have been detained possibly by militants in Syria, the foreign ministry said yesterday. The government was trying to confirm through the Japanese embassy in Damascus, now operating out of Jordan, the reports that surfaced over the weekend, such as online posts showing a man being captured, allegedly in Syria, a ministry official said.

IRAQ After two days of U.S. airstrikes, an Iraqi military spokesman says Iraqi security forces and Kurdish fighters have retaken control of the country’s largest dam from the hands of Islamic militants who captured it less than two weeks ago. The development marks the first major victory for Iraqi and Kurdish troops since U.S. airstrikes began earlier this month and could significantly boost their morale as they try to free territory overrun by the Islamic State group in a blitz this summer. More on p15

GAZA Palestinian and Israeli negotiators taking part in Egypt-mediated talks on a sustainable truce and solution for the Gaza Strip harden their positions as a five-day cease-fire was set to expire at midnight.

TURKEY yesterday summoned Germany’s ambassador and demanded that Berlin provide a “formal and satisfactory explanation” over reports that said Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had eavesdropped on conversations between officials in the U.S. and Turkey, both NATO allies.

LIBERIA Some of the people who fled an Ebola quarantine center in a Liberian slum when it was looted over the weekend are again under observation at a hospital yesterday, a health official said. Late Saturday, residents of Monrovia’s West Point slum attacked a quarantine center where people were being monitored for possible infection. The residents were angry that patients were brought from other parts of Monrovia. In the wake of the violence, police were deployed outside at least one Ebola treatment center in Monrovia yesterday.

UKRAINE Dozens” of civilians were killed in a rebel shelling attack yesterday on a convoy of refugees trying to flee war-torn eastern Ukraine, a top Ukrainian defense official said. Col. Andriy Lysenko told reporters he did not have an exact figure but said dozens of people have died, including children.