World briefs

JAPAN The first woman to climb Mount Everest didn’t stop there.
Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei, who died last week at 77, devoted her adult life to scaling peaks, climbing the tallest mountains in more than 70 countries.
Her philosophy was to live life to the fullest. “I want to climb even more mountains,” she said in a 1991 interview with The Associated Press, 16 years after conquering Everest. “To think, ‘It was great,’ and then die.”

ZIMBABWE’s tentative return to its own currency is getting a hostile reception from citizens, who fear a recurrence of the 500 billion percent inflation that plagued the southern African nation before it abandoned its dollar seven years ago. The country will soon introduce so-called bond notes, pegged to parity with the U.S. dollar.

VENEZUELA is bracing for turbulence after the socialist government blocked a presidential recall referendum in a move opposition leaders are calling a coup. The opposition is urging supporters to take to the streets, beginning with a march on a major highway Saturday led by the wives of jailed activists, while a leading government figure is calling for the arrest of high-profile government critics.

PORTUGAL’s credit rating was retained at investment grade by DBRS Ltd., securing eligibility of the country’s debt for the European Central Bank’s bond purchase program. The Toronto-based company kept Portugal’s rating at BBB (low), its lowest investment grade, and maintained the stable trend. For Portugal’s bonds to qualify for purchase under the ECB’s quantitative-easing plan, the nation must be rated investment grade by at least one major ratings company.

SWEDEN A member of the Swedish Academy that awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to Bob Dylan says the American singer-songwriter’s silence since receiving the honor is “impolite and arrogant.” Per Wastberg said Dylan’s lack of reaction to the honor the academy bestowed on him last week was predictable, but disrespectful nonetheless.

CAMEROON Authorities rushed more than 600 injured people to hospitals in the country’s two main cities Saturday in an effort to save lives a day after an overcrowded train derailed, killing more than 70 people.