World Briefs

US-CHINA Beijing’s pledge to help crack down on hackers who steal commercial secrets from the United States, even coming as it did amid a bit of arm-twisting by President Barack Obama, is a big breakthrough that could reduce U.S.-China tensions and end huge losses for American companies.More on p10

THAILAND Thai police said that two men who were arrested in connection with August’s deadly Bangkok bombing were the ones who carried out the attack and that authorities have gathered enough evidence to prosecute them.

THAILAND A trip to see fireflies has turned into tragedy in Thailand when two boats collided in the night, killing a woman from Hungary and seriously injuring a South Korean along with nearly two dozen other tourists, police said over the weekend. One boat with 21 South Koreans and two Hungarians was returning at the end of its trip when it was struck by an empty boat going in reverse. Around 20 other people, mainly from South Korea, also suffered injuries Friday night at Amphawa, a popular tourist destination about 60 kilometers west of Bangkok, he said.

USA Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton again defended her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, comparing the multiple investigations to Republican-led probes into her husband’s administration more than two decades ago. “It is like a drip, drip, drip. And that’s why I said, there’s only so much that I can control,” she said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

IRAQ will begin sharing “security and intelligence” information with Russia, Syria and Iran to help combat the advances of the Islamic State group, the Iraqi military announced.

ISRAEL  Israel’s Education Ministry says it has reached a settlement to end a nearly monthlong strike by the nation’s Christian schools. The Christian schools have been on strike since the school year began on Sept. 1 to protest cuts in government funding. Christian leaders have said the cuts amounted to discrimination.

GERMANY Wayward insoles cost Eliud Kipchoge a chance to break a world record. Despite problems with his shoes from the first kilometer, Kipchoge won the Berlin Marathon yesterday in a personal best time of 2 hours and 4 minutes. The Kenyan’s insoles were noticeably slipping out of his runners around the 20K mark, flapping behind him as he maintained a leading pace with training partner Emmanuel Mutai and 2012 race winner Geoffrey Mutai.