World briefs
RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin yesterday attended the weeklong war games with Belarus that have demonstrated the Russian military’s resurgent might and made neighboring countries nervous. Russia and Belarus say 5,500 Russian and 7,200 Belarusian troops are participating, but some NATO countries have estimated that up to 100,000 troops could be involved. Nervous NATO members, including the Baltic states and Poland, have questioned Moscow’s intentions.
VIETNAM The death toll from Typhoon Doksuri has risen to at least nine, with four people still missing since the storm hit Vietnam last week. The disaster management authority said some 31,000 soldiers and police were mobilized to help residents in three hard-hit provinces.
NEPAL Tens of thousands of people voted peacefully yesterday in a previously troubled southern Nepal province where ethnic violence demanding constitution changes had led to dozens of deaths in recent years.
KOREA China’s Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, has criticized the United States for demanding that Beijing put more pressure on North Korea to rein in its weapons programs. It made the remarks after the U.S. military flew powerful bombers and stealth jets over the Korean Peninsula in joint drills with South Korean warplanes.
SOUTH AFRICA Conservationists say some criminal groups are processing rhino horns into powder and trinkets in South Africa before export, a trend that could reflect changing consumer tastes and make it harder for law enforcement to intercept the illegal cargo.
IRELAND Budget airline Ryanair was under pressure yesterday to provide more information to travellers after canceling up to 50 flights a day over the next six weeks because it mismanaged its pilots’ holiday schedules.
PORTUGAL’s stock market is surging and its government borrowing rates are falling after the country recovered its investment-grade rating from Standard & Poor’s. The Lisbon stock exchange rose more than 1 percent yesterday.
PERU President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has appointed a former economy minister as his new prime minister, two days after a no-confidence vote by the opposition-led congress forced the entire Cabinet to resign.
MEXICO Authorities in the Mexican resort city of Cancun say gunmen have killed a married couple who were investigators for the state prosecutor’s office, as well as a child who was with them.
