World Briefs

CHINA-ITALY Silvio Berlusconi’s long quest to find a new owner for his soccer club AC Milan appears to be close to a conclusion with the former Italian prime minister saying he has agreed to a deal with a Chinese group. “Milan now has chosen this path toward China,” Berlusconi said in a video posted on La Gazzetta dello Sport’s website

PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte has named five active and retired police generals as protectors of drug syndicates, and sacked those still in service. Duterte said in a speech yesterday that the generals committed a crime that is tantamount to treason. Two of the men are retired, including one who is now a mayor. The three others are in active service.

INDIA Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expanded his Cabinet by inducting 19 new ministers, several of them from lower castes, as he completed two years in office. President Pranab Mukherjee swore in the new junior ministers at a ceremony at the president’s palace yesterday. The expansion is seen as Modi’s attempt to woo lower caste voters to support his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

BANGLADESH The violence carried out by a band of young men speaks to a deeper divide within the moderate, mostly Muslim nation that has pitted secularists against those yearning for Islamic rule since the country won independence in 1971. Meanwhile, the bodies of the seven Japanese killed in the attack return home.

AUSTRALIA Vote counting resumes in a dramatically close national election, three days after the contest failed to deliver an immediate winner and left the nation’s leadership in doubt. But with officials warning that the victor may not be known for days, if not weeks, many were left wondering: What, exactly, is taking so long?

INDONESIA Police say a militant who died in a suicide bombing outside police headquarters in the city of Solo was linked to a leading figure among the Indonesian radicals with the Islamic State group in Syria. One policeman sustained minor injuries in the attack.

THAILAND The Justice Ministry says it has no plan to execute rapists who murder their victims, saying such a harsh penalty would provoke more rapists to kill. An official posted the comments on his Facebook page amid growing outrage over the suspected rape and murder of a 27-year-old teacher.

FIJI A New Zealand couple said they found a cloth bundle containing a severed head while strolling along a popular Fiji beach in what has become the latest gruesome discovery in a murder case that has captivated the picturesque South Pacific island nation.

PUERTO RICO A nearly 2-year-old girl has drowned at a government-run home for abused children. Police said that Emiliana Del Valle Colon drowned in a plastic pool that was set up without permission in recent days amid a heat wave. The child drowned Monday at the Casa Cuna de San Juan, which cares for abused and abandoned children up to 3 years of age.

LOTTERY The New York Lottery has created a new instant game allowing players to use mobile phones in conjunction with a traditional scratch game — something lottery officials say is a first in the nation. The game is called Gold Castle. It contains a bar code that can be scanned by a smartphone to create an image of a castle on the phone screen. Players then touch the castle to reveal prizes. The USD5 game is sold at traditional lottery retailers.