World briefs

CHINA’s foreign minister says China insists on the elimination of nuclear weapons in the Korean peninsula and will continue to pursue the resumption of talks among the involved parties.

US A 10-day swing through four Pacific Rim nations is offering evidence that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has become one of President Donald Trump’s chief emissaries on the world stage. 

THAILAND A stolen plaque commemorating Thailand’s 1932 revolution is a sign that democracy still has not taken hold in the country, and a disinclination by the authorities to find those responsible adds another element of mystery.

SYRIA Israeli airstrikes killed an unknown number of Syrian soldiers at a weapons depot in rural Quneitra province. Yesterday’s strike came after several projectiles from Syria hit the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Friday.

FINLAND’s economic stewards, used to presenting bad news, are getting positively giddy. The self-described sick-man of Europe is now showing signs of real progress after years of tough budget cuts and tax increases. That may allow the country to avoid further austerity, its finance minister, Petteri Orpo, said in an interview Helsinki

SPAIN A large ferry slammed bow-first into a breakwater in theCanary Islands, injuring 13 passengers, Spanish authorities said Saturday. Manolo Vidal, a spokesman for Naviera Armas, the company that owns the ferry, said a “loss of electrical power” caused the accident Friday night as the boat was leaving the port of Puerta de la Luz on the island of Gran Canaria.

KENYA The Italian-born author and conservationist Kuki Gallmann was shot at her Kenyan ranch and airlifted for treatment after herders invaded in search of pasture to save their animals from drought, officials said yesterday. Gallmann, known for her bestselling book “I Dreamed of Africa,” which became a movie by the same name starring Kim Basinger, was patrolling the ranch in Laikipia when she was shot in the stomach.