World briefs

NORTH KOREA In an implicit challenge to President Donald Trump, North Korea appeared to fire a ballistic missile yesterday in what would be its first such test of the year. The reports of the launch came as Trump was hosting Abe and just days before the North is to mark the birthday of leader Kim Jong Un’s late father, Kim Jong Il.

TAIWAN A minor earthquake hit the southern part of Taiwan early Saturday, injuring four people. Authorities said the magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck near the coast of Tainan city at around 1:12 a.m., leaving as many as 50,000 households briefly in the dark before power was restored. No deaths were reported.

PHILIPPINES Officials yesterday warned survivors of a powerful earthquake that left at least eight people dead in the country’s south to ensure their homes and buildings are sturdy enough before venturing back amid continuing aftershocks.

INDONESIA Tens of thousands of Indonesians gathered at the national mosque in the capital on Saturday for mass prayers urging people to vote for a Muslim governor of the city as the country prepares for regional elections next week. Jakarta police estimated the crowd at 60,000 to 70,000 people.

MYANMAR leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on all armed ethnic groups to sign a cease-fire agreement during a speech yesterday in the same place where her father, an independence hero, signed a peace deal 70 years ago. 

SYRIA Turkey’s president says his troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters have entered the center of the northern town of al-Bab that is a stronghold of the Islamic State group. The Turkish-backed forces are racing to seize al-Bab before rival Syrian government forces arrive.

POLAND A police spokeswoman in Poland says 13 people have been injured after a truck rammed into the bus carrying American band The Dillinger Escape Plan to a concert in Krakow.

GERMANY Firefighters yesterday evacuated hundreds of passengers at Hamburg Airport after 50 people were injured by an unknown toxin that likely spread through the airport’s air conditioning system. All flights were halted for several hours due to the evacuation, an airport spokeswoman said.

COLOMBIA’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, has asked for Donald Trump’s support in approving U.S. funding to back the country’s peace deal with leftist rebels.