World briefs

CHINA’s yuan declined the most in a week and sovereign bond yields were near a decade-low as weaker-than-expected data reignited concern over growth in Asia’s largest economy. The currency dropped 0.11 percent to 6.6405 a dollar yesterday in Shanghai, paring a decline of 0.24 percent earlier, according to prices from the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The offshore yuan rose by 0.04 percent, as a gauge of the dollar’s strength declined for a second day.

CHINA-JAPAN Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stays away from a Tokyo shrine that honors convicted war criminals among the nation’s war dead, a bid to avoid controversy with neighboring countries on the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II. Abe instead sent a gift of money and religious ornaments to Yasukuni Shrine.

PHILIPPINES Human rights victims of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ regime petition the Supreme Court to block a government directive to have the ex-leader buried in a heroes’ cemetery — an emotional and divisive issue for Filipinos who ousted Marcos in a 1986 “people power” revolt.

INDONESIA The operator of the Indonesian capital’s main airport apologizes to passengers for flooding at its brand new terminal after rains overcame drainage pipes and inundated the arrivals area.
NEPAL An overcrowded bus veered off a mountain highway in Nepal yesterday, killing at least 33 people and injuring 28 others in one of the country’s deadliest bus crashes in recent years. Injured people were brought by helicopter to Kathmandu and were being treated in two hospitals, the Home Ministry said.

INDIA At least one paramilitary soldier and four suspected rebels are killed in a series of gunbattles in Indian-controlled Kashmir despite a security lockdown in the disputed region as India celebrates the anniversary of its independence from British rule.

NEW ZEALAND Tainted tap water sickens hundreds of people in a small town on North Island and forces schools to close. Two patients were in a critical condition and 19 others remained in a local hospital after testing positive for campylobacter bacteria. At least 200 people have been treated by local doctors over recent days and that officials estimate up to 2,000 people have gotten sick in Havelock North.

USA Two terminals at Kennedy Airport resumed normal operations yesterday [Macau time] after reports of shots fired prompted evacuations and grounded and diverted flights. The reports, which led to some frightening moments for fliers, were later determined to be unfounded, and the airport was given the all-clear. “At this time, no firearm, rounds or shell casings or other evidence of shots fired has been found,” said a spokesperson from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department.