World briefs

PAKISTAN Police in Pakistan say gunmen have killed two journalists in separate attacks in the country’s violent port city of Karachi in the last 24 hours.

INDIA More than 1,000 Muslim clerics in India ratify a religious ruling that condemns the Islamic State and calls the extremist group’s actions “un-Islamic.”

PAKISTAN-INDIA A Pakistani paramilitary force says a delegation of border officers has left for New Delhi to discuss cease-fire violations with Indian authorities.

AFGHANISTAN Roadside bombings kill two Afghan soldiers and four children, as a suspected NATO drone strike kills two militants.

NEPAL Police opened fire on protesters demanding statehood in southern Nepal yesterday, killing at least four people in two towns, an official said.

PHILIPPINES The Philippine Supreme Court orders the government to pay at least USD510.3 million to a consortium led by German airport operator Fraport AG that built Manila’s newest airport terminal.

MALDIVES Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney attended a hearing yesterday to appeal a 13-year jail sentence given to the Maldives’ former president and met with the attorney general to discuss the case. Clooney is part of a three-member international legal team trying to secure Mohamed Nasheed’s release.

USA-N KOREA The U.S. is urging continued worldwide pressure on North Korea to force it to renounce its nuclear arms. The demand at the 35-nation board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency comes after the agency cited satellite imagery indicating that Pyongyang is “further developing its nuclear capabilities.” Chief U.S. IAEA delegate Henry S. Ensher told the meeting yesterday that “enhanced pressure remains essential to compel North Korea to correct course.”

LEBANESE demonstrators returned to the streets yesterday to protest government dysfunction as politicians failed to make progress in the first round of talks to resolve a trash crisis and address other longstanding problems. Activists near the parliament building, which was closed off by security forces, shouted “thieves!” and hurled eggs as politicians’ convoys drove by. A much larger anti-government protest was planned last night.

SYRIA After a two-year siege, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria and other insurgents yesterday captured the one remaining Syrian army air base in Idlib province, a development that activists said effectively expelled the last of President Bashar Assad’s military from the northwestern province.

USA Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States is committed to increasing the number of refugees it is willing to take in as U.S. allies in Europe struggle to accommodate tens of thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa.

USA Salty fare from sandwiches to salads will soon come with a first-of-its-kind warning label at chain restaurants in New York City. The city Board of Health voted unanimously yesterday to require chain eateries to put salt-shaker symbols on menus to denote dishes with more than the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium. That’s about a teaspoon.