World Briefs

CHINA A couple who led a Christian congregation that opposed a government campaign to remove crosses atop churches have been given long prison sentences for illegal activities.

RUSSIA Methane gas leak at a coal mine in Russia’s far north triggered three explosions that ignited a raging fire and partially collapsed the mine, killing 36 people. The dead included five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed yesterday when the third explosion rocked the Severnaya mine in Vorkuta, a town north of the Arctic Circle in the Komi region, the emergency services said.

MYANMAR Hundreds of nationalist Buddhist monks and their supporters rally in support of retaining a constitutional clause barring Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the country’s recently elected ruling party, from becoming head of state.

THAILAND Police said yesterday that they have arrested several Cambodian sailors suspected of attacking four French tourists on a resort island, raping the two women in the group. The five Cambodians assaulted the tourists with knives and sticks Saturday night on the island of Koh Kut after anchoring their fishing boat, said Maj. Gen. Nopparat Rintapon, head of police in Trat province. Three of the tourists were badly injured.

POLAND Thousands gathered yesterday at the shipyard in Gdansk — the cradle of Poland’s 1980s Solidarity movement — to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president who is facing renewed allegations of having collaborated with Poland’s communist-era secret police.

MEXICO Former President Felipe Calderon joined his predecessor in office in unloading on Donald Trump, calling the Republican front-runner’s campaign racist and saying his discourse on immigration is fueling anti-American sentiment around the world.

NAMIBIAN media report that the Chinese government has sponsored several classrooms in Namibian schools to teach Mandarin. The Namibian Press Agency reported on Saturday that China’s Ambassador to Namibia Xin Shunkang inaugurated a classroom at a school outside the capital Windhoek earlier this week. The school is one of several in the district that will offer language classes for two hours after school.