World briefs

CHINA The wife of one of China’s most prominent human rights campaigners said that he had disappeared during a trip to visit relatives of a detained rights lawyer. Jiang Tianyong, a legal activist (pictured), has not been heard from since Monday, when he was due to board a train to return to Beijing, according to his wife, Jin Bianling.

CHINA’s biggest online travel service Ctrip.com is buying Skyscanner i n a deal that values the British travel search site at 1.4 billion pounds. The deal announced yesterday adds to a string of global acquisitions by Chinese companies in search of technology, brands and access to foreign markets.

PHILIPPINES Communist guerrillas warn that a peace deal with President Rodrigo Duterte’s government is unlikely to be reached if he doesn’t end the Philippines’ treaty alliance with the United States and resist foreign control by other countries he’s trying to befriend, like China and Russia.

TRUMP Some Asian nations are watching anxiously as Donald Trump prepares to take up the presidency, but for at least one major power in the region, India, the changing of the guard in Washington could strengthen ties. At the same time, the head of the Asian Development Bank said continued engagement by the United States with Asia under the president-elect would be good for both the region and America.

JAPAN Tsutomu Shirosaki, a member of Red Army, a disbanded Japanese left-wing militant group was sentenced to 12 years in prison for an unsuccessful 1986 mortar attack on the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia.

AUSTRALIA-JORDAN  The Australian government has announced an additional 220 million Australian dollars in humanitarian aid for the Syrian crisis during the Jordanian king’s first visit to Australia.

IRAQ Officials say a car bomb south of Baghdad killed at least to 56 people, including at least 20 Iranians.

USA A Utah man has been arrested for what federal agents say is the manufacture of tens of thousands of dangerous opioid pain medication pills a day from his home. Aaron Michael Shamo, 26, was arrested after agents found 70,000 pills containing fentanyl. Shamo sold the pills by shipping them by mail throughout the United States, authorities said. He received shipments of the powdery substance of Fentanyl from China.

PERU is demanding the United Nations annul a former first lady’s appointment to be a senior agricultural official abroad. Nadine Heredia is set to begin work yesterday as head of the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization’s liaison office in Switzerland.

GERMANY A closely watched survey shows German businesses remained optimistic in November, but began showing possible signs of concern about the future. The Ifo Institute said its index remained unchanged at 110.4 points for November. It said businesses reported their current situation had slightly improved, rising to 115.6 from 115.1 in October.