World Briefs

CHINA plans to set up a commercial rocket-launch company in view of the market’s potential, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Sanjiang Space Group Co. is preparing to enter the commercial-rocket business with a launch slated for 2017.

MYANMAR’s parliament yesterday elected Htin Kyaw as the country’s new president in a watershed moment that ushers the longtime opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi into government after 54 years of direct or indirect military rule.

AFGHANISTAN President Ashraf Ghani says the Islamic State group is “on the run” in an eastern border province where in recent months the militants had taken over some remote districts.

THAILAND Prosecutors called their first witnesses yesterday in a major human trafficking trial with 92 defendants, including an army general, implicated in smuggling, kidnappings and the deaths of dozens of people.

THAILAND Police file negligence charges against two executives of a fire safety company after a system being installed at the headquarters of one of the country’s largest banks malfunctioned, killing eight people.

MALAYSIA-AUSTRALIA Malaysian authorities will not charge two journalists from Australia’s state-owned broadcaster who attempted to interview Malaysia’s prime minister over corruption allegations, deciding to deport them instead.

USA In a major reversal, the Obama administration says it will not allow oil drilling in the Atlantic Ocean. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell (pictured) made the announcement yesterday on Twitter, declaring that the administration’s next five-year offshore drilling plan “protects the Atlantic for future generations.”

ITALY The family of an Italian al-Qaida hostage killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan is appealing to Barack Obama to provide details about the January 2015 operation. A lawyer for Giovanni Lo Porto’s family said that they have yet to receive operation details despite Obama’s orders for a full review of the counter-terrorism operation.

EUROPEAN Union leaders will boost support to Greece so that thousands of migrants can be sent from there back to Turkey under a planned deal being thrashed out with Ankara. In a draft text prepared for their summit, EU leaders promise to use “all means to support the capacity of Greece for the return of irregular migrants to Turkey.”