World briefs

CHINA The International Champions Cup match between Premier League rivals Manchester United and Manchester City has been canceled after recent extreme weather made the playing surface at Beijing’s National Stadium unfit for play.

PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte declared a unilateral cease-fire with communist guerrillas effective immediately yesterday and asked the rebels to do the same to end decades of deadly violence and foster the resumption of peace talks. More on p.13

VIETNAM An Australian woman has been arrested in Vietnam for allegedly trafficking heroin, state media reported. The Thanh Nien newspaper said the 37-year old woman of Vietnamese origin was detained Sunday at Tan Son Nhat airport in the southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City after authorities found nearly 5 kilograms of heroin hidden in her luggage.

US-BRUNEI U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has met with his counterpart from Brunei and urged his country to ensure that if it implements Islamic sharia law it should respect human rights. Kerry and Brunei’s Foreign Minister Lim Jock Seng met yesterday on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting being hosted by Laos.
India Police were questioning two men yesterday in the alleged gang rape of a 25-year-old Israeli tourist who accepted a car ride while traveling in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The woman, who had been looking for a taxi, got into the car in the hill resort of Manali before dawn Sunday to travel to a nearby town, said Padam Chand, a police superintendent in Manali.

GERMANY A failed asylum-seeker from Syria blew himself up and wounded 12 people after being turned away from an open-air music festival in southern Germany, authorities said yesterday. It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in a week — three of them carried out by recent immigrants.

POLAND Pope Francis’ advocacy for refugee rights faces a diplomatic test tomorrow when he begins a five-day visit to Poland, where a populist government has slammed the door on most asylum-seekers.

MOZAMBIQUE  Talks between the government and an opposition party that began July 21 were suspended after disagreements, a mediator said, stalling a bid to end violence that’s killed hundreds of people.

CONGO  A court in the Republic of Congo sentenced an opposition politician to two years in prison after he was found guilty of inciting rebellion. Paulin Makaya, president of the United for Congo party, was also fined 2.5 million CFA francs (USD4,135) by the court in the capital, Brazzaville.

US A shooting at a Florida nightclub killed two people and wounded as many as 17, police said. The attack apparently occurred at a teen party, billed as a “Swimsuit Glow Party,” at Club Blu in Fort Myers, according to local media.