World briefs
IRAQ Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi celebrated with Iraqi troops yesterday in Mosul after they drove Islamic State militants from some of their last strongholds in a nearly nine-month campaign, although heavy fighting by holdouts continued in parts of the Old City neighborhood.
CHINA Two foreign specialists who visited Liu Xiaobo said yesterday that the cancer-stricken Nobel Peace Prize laureate can safely travel abroad for treatment, apparently contradicting statements by Chinese experts who say a medical evacuation would be unsafe for China’s best-known political prisoner.
JAPAN The death toll from heavy rain and flooding in southern Japan has risen to 15, as rescue workers reach isolated villages where at least 14 others are missing and feared dead.
THAILAND Efforts by the government to curb sales of ivory have been successful following criticism of widespread trafficking in the country, police and conservationists said.
INDONESIA Police questioned the Indonesian business partner of U.S. President Donald Trump at length on Friday over allegations he sent threatening text messages to a deputy attorney general.
GERMANY The Group of 20 summit ended Saturday in Hamburg, revealing tensions on trade, as the U.S. administration and international partners forged a deal that endorsed open markets but acknowledged countries had a right to put up barriers to block unfair practices.
TURKEY The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party completed his 25-day “March for Justice” from the capital Ankara to Istanbul yesterday and joined hundreds of thousands of supporters at a rally protesting a large-scale government crackdown on opponents.
