World briefs

CHINA More than 20,000 people from Myanmar have fled across the border into China, the Chinese government said yesterday, following months of violence between ethnic rebel groups and government forces, including fighting this week that killed at least 30 people. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China is calling for an immediate cease-fire, and that authorities in the border area have offered shelter and assistance to the refugees.

SOUTH KOREA Samsung lawyers yesterday denied all charges brought against Lee Jae-yong, the billionaire heir to Samsung, and questioned the legitimacy of the indictment in a massive corruption scandal that has ensnared the country’s president.

JAPAN The 185 cases of thyroid cancer found in youngsters in the Japanese region hit by the 2011 nuclear disaster cannot be linked to radiation, doctors said yesterday, describing that as not the biggest cause of residents’ health problems.

INDIA A Roman Catholic diocese in southern India is considering using security cameras and other measures to curb sexual abuse by priests after a vicar was arrested on charges of raping a teenage girl, a spokesman said yesterday. 

IRAQ A twin suicide bombing struck a village wedding north of Baghdad as the wedding party gathered in the evening hours, killing at least 26 people and wounding dozens, a government spokesman said yesterday. 

TURKEY The United States risks major damage to its relationship with NATO ally Turkey if the U.S. includes Kurdish forces in the fight to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s de facto capital, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said yesterday.

FRANCE’s ambassador to Japan has said publicly that he would refuse to serve as a diplomat if Marine Le Pen were elected president. The National Front shot back saying that Ambassador Thierry Dana should anticipate Le Pen’s coming victory and “immediately leave public service.”

US Hawaii has become the first state to file a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, saying the order will harm its Muslim population, tourism and foreign students.

BRAZIL Women’s groups in Brazil are reacting with anger after President Michel Temer praised females in his International Women’s Day speech for taking care of homes, nurturing families and checking prices at supermarkets.