SYRIA President Bashar Assad rejected U.S. accusations that Syrian or Russian planes struck an aid convoy in Aleppo or that his troops were preventing food from entering the city’s rebel-held eastern neighborhoods, blaming the U.S. for the collapse of a cease-fire many had hoped would bring relief to the war-ravaged country.
TAIWAN The government has requested that Google blur satellite images of Taiping Island, also known as Itu Aba, in the Spratly Island chain, which is claimed by mainland China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
THAILAND Facing international pressure for failing to stop human trafficking in the seafood trade, Thailand promised almost a year ago to compensate victims of slavery and industry leaders vowed to bring all shrimp processing in-house. That hasn’t always happened. More on p12
THE PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte says he will invite the U.N. chief and European Union officials to investigate his bloody anti-drug crackdown, but only if he can grill them afterward to prove that their human rights concerns are without basis. More on p15
AUSTRALIA Police say boob-trapped memory sticks have been left in mailboxes in the suburban town of Pakenham, a criminal twist on a spy agency technique aimed at tricking users into plugging malicious devices into their own machines.
AFGHANISTAN’s government signs a draft peace deal with a designated “global terrorist” after lengthy negotiations that could pave the way for a similar accord with the Taliban, who have been waging war on Kabul for 15 years. The deal with warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the country’s first peace agreement since the Taliban launched their insurgency in 2001.
GHANA Professors at a university in Ghana’s capital are campaigning for the removal of a new statue of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, taking issue with what they call his “racist identity.”
GERMANY-BRITAIN The two countries’ top security officials say they’ve agreed to even closer cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism, and to manage the challenge of the migrant flows to Europe. They also pledged to cooperate with Greece and Turkey to ensure the functioning of the EU-Turkey agreement on migrants.
SWEDEN is stepping up efforts to deport foreigners who are denied asylum by making it easier for police to find those remaining in the country illegally.
Police would be given expanded powers to conduct spot checks at businesses suspected of hiring foreign labor under a series of measures presented yesterday.
BRAZIL Former president Dilma Rousseff has called the prosecution of her predecessor on corruption charges another attack on Brazil’s democracy, speaking just weeks after the Senate removed her from office.
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