CHINA More than 150 students fell ill in northwest China after breathing in smoke from a mock air defense evacuation drill, state media reported yesterday. Smoke was used to make Friday’s drill at Yifu Experimental Middle School in Gansu province more realistic, but the volume generated was too large, said the official Xinhua News Agency.
CHINA Hollywood studio Warner Bros. and a Chinese investment company said yesterday that they will jointly produce Chinese-language movies for the international market. Warner Bros. and China Media Capital announced their Hong Kong-based joint venture two days before the start of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States. Flagship Entertainment Group Ltd. will also have offices in Beijing and Los Angeles.
CANADA-SYRIA Canada is to accelerate Syrian refugee applications to bring in 10,000 over a year earlier than scheduled.
NEW ZEALAND A veteran New Zealand zookeeper was attacked and killed by a Sumatran tiger yesterday inside the animal’s enclosure. Police said they were called to the Hamilton Zoo at 11 a.m. after reports that 43-year-old Samantha Kudeweh had been attacked by one of the zoo’s five tigers. Police said she died at the scene.
AUSTRALIA’s new Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull yesterday announced sweeping changes to his first Cabinet and promoted more women, including Australia’s first female defense minister. Turnbull increased the number of female Cabinet ministers from two to five, including Defense Minister Marise Payne. The government’s unpopular chief economics minister, Treasurer Joe Hockey, has been replaced by Social Services Minister Scott Morrison.
AFGHANISTAN Three people, including two police officers, were wounded in a suicide attack yesterday in Afghanistan, while 21 other civilians were wounded in a separate attack.
NEPAL yesterday formally adopted a much anticipated and long-delayed constitution that took more than seven years to complete following a decade of political infighting.
YEMEN’s Shiite Houthi rebels have released six foreigners whom they were holding hostage and they are flying out of the country’s capital Sana’a, airport officials and Houthi officials said yesterday.
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