World briefs

HONG KONG expanded their crackdown on opposition with more arrests of pro-democracy activists yesterday. Police detained up to nine activists for involvement in an anti-China protest last year, according to social media posts from two political parties, whose members were among those arrested. On Wednesday, police arrested two lawmakers who were disqualified over their oaths.

CHINA Two-time Asian Champions League winner Guangzhou Evergrande has been charged by the sport’s continental governing body after supporters unfurled an offensive banner aimed at a Hong Kong opponent this week. 

CHINA Authorities in Xinjiang region are prohibiting parents from giving children some Islamic names in the latest effort to dilute the influence of religion on life in the ethnic Uighur minority heartland. “Muhammad,” ‘’Jihad” and “Islam” are among at least 29 names now banned in the heavily Muslim region. 

SOUTH KOREA, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, grew at the fastest clip in nearly a year thanks to recovery in exports, the central bank said, despite a backlash from Chinese consumers over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system. The economy expanded 2.7 percent during the quarter y-o-y, higher than the 2.4 percent growth during the previous.

THAILAND Suspected Muslim insurgents killed four paramilitary army rangers yesterday in an ambush in southern Thailand. Police said a pickup truck carrying six rangers in Narathiwat province was blown off the road by an improvised explosive device and then insurgents opened fire, killing the four soldiers and wounding two others.

INDIA has ordered internet service providers in Indian-controlled Kashmir to immediately block Facebook, Twitter and 20 other social media sites and online applications for one month, after several videos and photos depicting alleged abuses of Kashmiris by Indian security forces sparked outrage and fueled protests. Meanwhile, 3 Indian soldiers, 2 suspected rebels killed in the trouble state.

UK A man with knives has been arrested near Parliament on suspicion of terrorism. London’s Metropolitan Police said the man in his late 20s was arrested yesterday “as part of an ongoing operation.” Knives have been recovered. Police said the man is being detained under the Terrorism Act. They say there is “no immediate known threat” to the public.

RUSSIA-JAPAN President Vladimir Putin hosts Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss a dispute over four islands that has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty ending World War II. It was the leaders’ third meeting in the past seven months after Putin made a state visit to Japan in December and Abe met Putin in Russia’s Far East in September.