World Briefs

CHINA’s auto sales soared 26.3 percent in August over a year earlier, an industry group reported Friday, driven by demand for smaller cars and the impending end of a sales tax cut.

TAIWAN Prosecutors have closed their investigation into a July bus crash that killed all 26 people on board, including 23 Chinese tourists, saying the driver was suicidal and that they found no evidence of a mechanical failure.

NORTH KOREA’s latest nuclear test, its most powerful to date, is a game-changer, according to the country’s government. The statement may indicate North Korea feels it can confidently build miniaturized warheads, mass-produce those weapons and then deploy them on ballistic missiles.

AUSTRALIA A man charged with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder after was inspired by the Islamic State group, police said yesterday. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull noted that the attack came on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the al-Qaida attacks on the United States.

BANGLADESH A boiler exploded and triggered a fire at a packaging factory near Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday, killing at least 23 workers and injuring dozens, officials said.
Fire officials said that the fire triggered by the blast spread quickly because flammable chemicals were stored at the factory.

IRAN The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday welcomed a U.S.-Russian agreement on a cease-fire for Syria, where it has been a key ally of President Bashar Assad during the five-year war that has resulted in as many as 500,000 deaths. The agreement is set to go into effect on Monday night, coinciding with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.

KENYA Three women were killed after they attacked a police station in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa yesterday, a police official said. One of the women threw a firebomb at officers while another pulled out a knife, the official described.

CROATIA Citizens were voting yesterday in an early parliamentary election that is unlikely to produce a clear winner and could pave the way for more political uncertainty in the European Union’s newest member state.

USA  A Hanjin Shipping Co. vessel began unloading its part of USD14 billion worth of cargo Saturday morning at the Port of Long Beach in California after a U.S. court granted the company a reprieve from having its assets seized, easing a cargo bottleneck resulting from the container line’s filing for bankruptcy protection.