World briefs

N KOREA blocks two South Korean officials from entering a jointly run factory park in the North over what it describes as a conflict between the countries’ management committees overseeing the complex.

N KOREA says the United States needs to end its “nuclear blackmail” and respond to Pyongyang’s recent diplomatic overture to formally end the decades-old Korean conflict. Fighting ended in 1953 without a peace treaty, leaving North and South Korea still technically still at war.

PHILIPPINES Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen are demanding more than USD60 million for two Canadians and a Norwegian they are holding in the jungles of the southern Philippines in the largest ransom the Muslim militants have sought for their hostages in years. More on p13

INDONESIA Thousands of tourists are stranded on two Indonesian islands after ash from the Mount Rinjani volcano forced the closure of two airports and blanketed villages and farmlands. Mount Rinjani on Lombok Island blasted ash and debris 3,500 meters into the air. More on p12

INDONESIA A strong earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia, causing people to flee their homes in panic, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and authorities said there was no threat of a tsunami.

CAMBODIA Police have arrested three men suspected of beating up two opposition lawmakers during an assault outside of the National Assembly last week.

INDIAN authorities detain key separatist leaders and hundreds of their supporters to prevent them from holding a protest rally during a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kashmir this weekend.

USA Donald Trump is demanding as much as USD75 million from hundreds of condo owners in Panama City’s Trump Ocean Club, alleging that its directors wrongfully fired his company as administrator managing the luxury building that is the tallest in Central America.

RUSSIA-SYRIA Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed hope yesterday that diplomats will agree on a list of opposition groups that should be invited to U.N.-brokered peace talks on Syria. Moscow previously lamented there is no agreement in the U.S.-led coalition in Syria on who should be declared legitimate opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government — or should be targeted like the Islamic State group.

UK British police and spies will get new powers to comb through citizens’ online activity under a new law regulating cyber-snooping. The Investigatory Powers Bill is designed to regulate authorities’ access to Internet activity. It replaces a patchwork of laws, some dating from the Web’s infancy. Civil liberties groups are alarmed by reports that the government will make Internet service providers keep records of users’ Web and social media activity for a year so that they can be accessed as part of criminal or terrorist investigations.

NORWAY Police say a record number of 196 asylum-seekers in one day have crossed into Norway from Russia at a remote Arctic border post. Police said yesterday the migrants arrived Tuesday, mostly by riding across on newly bought bicycles because pedestrian crossings are not allowed at the border in Storskog. Norwegian NTB news agency said 174 refugees had arrived Monday from Russia and more than 3,000 people have used that route to enter northern Norway.