World Briefs

US-CHINA China features prominently in the rhetoric of presumed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who accuses the country of stealing American jobs and cheating at global trade. In China though, he’s only just emerging as a public figure, despite notoriety elsewhere for his voluble utterances, high-profile businesses and reality TV shows.

HONG KONG An activist whose beating by police was caught on video was sentenced yesterday to five weeks in prison on charges related to the confrontation, stirring outrage among pro-democracy supporters.

JAPAN A 7-year-old boy is missing in a forest in northern Japan after his parents made him get out of their car as punishment for misbehaving. About 150 rescue workers searched yesterday in a wooded area on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands. The boy, identified as Yamato Tanooka, has been missing since late Saturday afternoon.

AUSTRALIA Scientists say mass bleaching has killed more than a third of the coral in the northern and central parts of the Great Barrier Reef, though corals to the south have escaped with little damage. Some parts of the reef have lost more than half of the coral to bleaching.

PHILIPPINES  Officials say days of intense military operations have killed 54 Muslim militants from a largely unknown group that authorities say have ties with Islamic extremists from Indonesia and have carried out beheadings apparently influenced by the Islamic State group. The military says the death count is based on intelligence reports.

CAMBODIA Police are blocking opposition activists from staging a protest march, as both sides spar over intensifying government pressure on its critics.

RUSSIA-TURKEY  Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said after a Cabinet meeting yesterday: “I am of the opinion that there is no problem that cannot be overcome. I hope that it will be possible for the countries to resolve the problem through dialogue.”

SENEGAL Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for abuses during his time in power, Judge Gberdao Gustave Kam said yesterday at the end of the trial that began in July 2015 in Senegalese courts.

MEXICO International football player Alan Pulido has been rescued in north-east Mexico hours after he was kidnapped, officials say. Pulido, 25, appeared with a bandaged hand and told reporters he was “very well”. Officials said the rescue operation was carried out yesterday night [Macau time], without giving more details.