World Briefs

TAIWAN China won’t get involved in Taiwan’s upcoming elections, a government spokesman says, underscoring the sensitivity surrounding polls in which the island’s pro-independence opposition is expected to make a strong showing. More on p11

AFGHANISTAN The Taliban overrun a district in northern Afghanistan’s Takhar province, and intense battles are underway as government forces fight to retake it, an official says.

AFGHANISTAN and Pakistan are scrambling to rush aid to survivors of this week’s magnitude-7.5 earthquake as the region’s overall death toll from the temblor rises to 385.

GERMANY Volkswagen reported a loss of 1.67 billion euros (USD1.83 billion) for the third quarter as the company set aside 6.7 billion euros to pay for recalling and fixing cars that were rigged to evade U.S. diesel emissions tests. The company warned Wednesday that operating profit this year would be “down significantly” as a result of the scandal.

AUSTRALIA A Somali refugee who alleged she was raped in Nauru will be flown to Australia for a second time to potentially have an abortion, Australia’s government says a day after the U.N. human rights agency demanded she get another opportunity to have her 15-week pregnancy terminated. More on p12
SRI LANKA is preparing to release more than 100 Indian fishermen detained for poaching and India will free dozens of Sri Lankan fishermen in its custody, an official says.

JAPAN Director John Woo is surprised to receive an award honoring trailblazers who have made outstanding contributions to the art of filmmaking. “I have made a lot of films, but it hardly qualifies as making a special contribution. I’m just a hard-working filmmaker,” the Hong Kong director says.

JAPAN Visions of cars that drive themselves without emitting a bit of pollution while entertaining passengers with online movies and social media are what’s taking center stage at the Tokyo Motor Show. Japan, home to the world’s top-selling automaker, has a younger generation disinterested in owning or driving cars. The show is about wooing them back.

JAPAN Nintendo Co. posts a 3.17 billion yen (USD26.3 million) profit for the fiscal second quarter, buoyed by sales growth of portable video game machines and software titles.

SOUTH SUDAN African Union investigators discovered mass graves in South Sudan and found evidence of horrific crimes, including forced cannibalism, according to a long-awaited report. President Salva Kiir’s faction in the conflict is also accused of recruiting an irregular tribal force before the outbreak of war in December 2013. The report, released late Tuesday, also disputes that there was a coup attempt in December 2013 by former Vice President Riek Machar.

NIGERIAN troops have rescued 338 captives, almost all children and women, from Boko Haram camps in a northeastern forest, the military said yesterday.