World Briefs

CAMBODIA has deported 50 Chinese and 13 Taiwanese citizens to China over an alleged internet scam, complying with demands from Beijing, a senior police official said yesterday. Cambodian General Ouk Haiseila said the Chinese government sent a special plane from Beijing to take them back.

INDONESIA Torrential rains triggered floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Java, killing at least 20 villagers and leaving 14 others missing, an official said yesterday. The worst-hit district was West Java’s Garut, where 17 people were found dead and 14 others were missing after two rivers overflowed.

CHINA – N. KOREA Premier Li Keqiang is urging continued international commitment to a Korean peninsula free of nuclear arms, in comments alluding to the recent testing of an atomic weapon by its North Korean ally. Li urged new efforts to “reach a comprehensive political solution on the Korean nuclear issue.”

PAKISTAN Police say they have arrested a 16-year-old Christian boy on blasphemy charges after he “liked” an “inappropriate” photograph on Facebook of the Kaaba in Mecca, one of the holiest sites in Islam. Senior police official Akhtar Ansari said yesterday the arrest was made this week in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province.

SYRIA A medical relief organization says an airstrike in northern Syria hit a mobile emergency unit, and not a medical facility. Dr. Oubaida Al Moufti, vice president of the International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, says five staff members were killed when its ambulances were hit.

SAUDI ARABIA The Saudi Civil Defense says a citizen has been wounded by a projectile fired from Yemen into the southern border region of Najran. An official said that emergency forces responded to the incident yesterday morning and that the wounded Saudi man was taken to the hospital for treatment.

TURKEY An attacker armed with a knife tried to enter the Israeli Embassy in Turkey yesterday before being shot and slightly wounded by Turkish security officials, Turkish and Israeli officials said.

ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe decried Western sanctions yesterday, urging the United States, United Kingdom and their allies to abolish them. The 92-year-old leader said that his country is “the innocent victim” of such economic pressure.

EU-AZERBAIJAN  A European law and human rights commission yesterday criticized proposed constitutional changes in Azerbaijan that would extend the president’s term, a conclusion that drew an angry response from the ex-Soviet nation.