World briefs

AUSTRALIA An Australian couple has rejected their biological child born to an Indian surrogate mother because of the baby’s gender, but has taken home its twin sibling, a judge says. News of the case that dates back to 2012 follows a recent furor over an Australian couple that left behind a disabled twin born to a Thai surrogate mother that prompted a ban on commercial surrogacy in Thailand.

VIETNAM A Vietnamese oil tanker missing for a week is released by pirates who stormed the ship and siphoned off some of its cargo, a crew member says.

S KOREA-JAPAN South Korean prosecutors have indicted a Japanese journalist on charges he defamed South Korea’s president by reporting rumors that she was absent for seven hours during the April ferry disaster because she was with a man, according to the journalist’s employer and the Japanese government.

TURKEY- SYRIA As U.S. generals and Secretary of State John Kerry warn that a strategic Syrian border town could fall to Islamic State militants, the Turkish military has deployed its tanks on its side of the frontier but only watched the slaughter.

MEXICO Tens of thousands of teachers, activists and residents march and block a major highway in the Guerrero state capital to protest the disappearance of 43 teachers college students and demand that authorities find them. More on p15

USA The presidents of three Ebola-stricken West African nations made urgent pleas for money, doctors and hospital beds yesterday and representatives of nations gathered for a World Bank meeting promised to send more aid quickly. “Our people are dying,” said President Ernest Bai Koroma. He spoke by video from Sierra Leone to an Ebola summit at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a 20-fold surge in international aid to fight the outbreak and representatives gathered for a World Bank pledged medical evacuations for health care responders who catch the virus.

SPAIN Two doctors who treated a Spanish nursing assistant diagnosed with Ebola have been admitted to a Madrid hospital for precautionary observation, bringing to six the number being monitored at the center. A hospital spokeswoman says neither of the doctors, nor the woman’s husband — who is also under observation — has shown Ebola symptoms.