World briefs

SINGAPORE-VIETNAM Vietnam and Singapore signed several business agreements yesterday during a visit by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong aimed at boosting the island state’s investment and trade with the communist country. Singapore, one of Vietnam’s top investors and trading partners, hopes to step up investments in the country, Lee said. 

INDONESIA About 50 farmers and activists opposed to a cement factory in Indonesia’s Central Java province have encased their feet in concrete during a dayslong protest in Jakarta, the capital. Farmers in the village of Kendeng have battled against plans for the factory for years, saying it could taint their water.

JAPAN Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated 1 million yen (USD9,000) through his wife to a school run by a group of ultranationalist educators, the group’s leader told Parliament yesterday, while also suggesting there was “political influence” in a land-buying scandal involving the school. 

RUSSIA-UKRAINE A former Russian lawmaker who became a vociferous critic of Moscow following his recent move to Ukraine was shot and killed in Kiev yesterday, prompting another war of words between the two countries. Denis Voronenkov was shot dead by an unidentified gunman near the entrance of an upscale hotel in the Ukrainian capital.

AFGHANISTAN The Taliban captured a key district center in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province yesterday, officials said. The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland.

BELGIUM A French national of North African origin was arrested in Belgium yesterday, after officials suspected he was planning to drive at a crowd at high speed. There were no reports of injuries but police found knives and a non-lethal gun in the car.

FRANCE Far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is headed to Moscow for meetings with lawmakers less than a month before the election, officials from her National Front party said yesterday.

EU-TURKEY The European Union has summoned Turkey’s permanent representative to the bloc to explain what many have seen as threatening language by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He said that Europeans would not be able to walk the streets safely if European nations persist in what he called arrogant conduct.

UNITED NATIONS The inspections regime put in place to closely monitor Iran’s nuclear activity is in jeopardy unless the U.S. and other nations contribute more money, the head of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency said.