World briefs

USA Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort (pictured), secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, AP has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.

CHINA Two students died and more than 20 others were injured yesterday in a stampede during a morning bathroom break at an elementary school in central China, government officials said. The Puyang county government in Henan province said in a brief notice that the incident is under investigation. A county official reached by phone confirmed the deaths and injuries but declined to give other details.

CHINA-AUSTRALIA Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived in the Australian capital Canberra yesterday on a mission to expand bilateral ties as President Donald Trump proposes an “America First” overhaul of global trade. 

VIETNAM Vietnamese state media say a court has sentenced nine men to death for trafficking more than 1,000 pounds of heroin. The Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that the court in Hoa Binh province also sentenced nine others to life imprisonment and four others from 17 to 20 years in jail at the end of the 23-day trial this week. The ring was convicted of trafficking 495 kilograms of heroin from Laos through Vietnam for sale in China from 2012 until to 2015.

VIETNAM’s aviation authority has suspended three air traffic controllers, including one who fell asleep while on duty, for causing delays for two flights. The Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement that it had recommended that the sleeping controller and one other controller also be fined.

KOREAS A latest missile launch by North Korea appeared to have ended in a failure, South Korean defense officials said, three days after the North claimed a major breakthrough in its rocket development program. 

SOUTH KOREA’s just-ousted president returned home early yesterday after being grilled by prosecutors in a long-awaited investigation of corruption allegations that ended her rule and now threaten to put her in jail.

GERMANY The government says pensions will rise by up to 3.6 percent this year as a result of higher wages in Europe’s biggest economy. The Labor Ministry said that pensions will increase by 1.9 percent in the former West Germany on July 1 and 3.6 percent in the formerly communist east. That will narrow the gap between the two regions, with easterners’ pensions rising to 95.7 percent of westerners’ from the current 94.1 percent. Rises in German pensions are linked to wage developments.