World Briefs

CHINA The port city of Tianjin in northern China is rocked by a warehouse blast two months after massive explosions in the city left 173 people dead or missing. More on p10

NEPAL-CHINA  A Chinese official says a border point with Nepal damaged by April’s devastating earthquake has reopened, though traffic hasn’t resumed yet.

AFGHANISTAN  The Taliban say they are withdrawing from Kunduz, a strategic northern city that briefly fell to the insurgents last month, as an Afghan official said life there is returning to normal.

MYANMAR’s election commission proposes delaying the Nov. 8 general election either nationwide or in some areas hit by landslides and flooding. More on p12

PHILIPPINES The Philippines backs a reported U.S. plan to challenge China’s territorial claims by deploying a Navy ship close to a Chinese-built island in the South China Sea, saying it is important for the international community to safeguard freedom of navigation in the disputed waters.

AUSTRALIA A 62-year-old recreational hunter lost in a hot and arid region of the Australian Outback survived without water for six days by eating ants, police say.

USA Playboy magazine will no longer publish photos of nude women as part of a redesign of the decades-old magazine, according to a news report Monday. Executives for the magazine company told The New York Times that the change will take place in March 2016. The paper reported that the print edition of Playboy will still feature women in provocative poses, but they will no longer be fully nude.

PAKISTAN A landslide hits three makeshift homes in a slum in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, killing 13 people.

PAKISTAN A Pakistani prison official says authorities have hanged nine convicts, including four brothers, the latest in a series of death sentences to be carried out since the country lifted a moratorium last year.

UK-SAUDI ARABIA The U.K. gov’t pulled out of USD9 million deal to sell prison expertise to Saudi Arabia that had drawn opposition from rights groups and senior politicians. David Cameron’s office said Britain had withdrawn its bid for the training contract after reviewing Ministry of Justice “priorities.”