World briefs

CHINA’s vice president meets with a delegation of governors from Japan amid strained bilateral ties, a rare high-level meeting that points to Japan’s hopes of a summit between the two countries’ leaders at a regional conference next month. Vice President Li Yuanchao told the group that China hopes for an improvement in relations that have been soured over an island dispute.

N KOREA-JAPAN Japanese and North Korean officials hold talks in Pyongyang for the first time in 10 years, meeting to assess progress in North Korea’s investigation into the fates of Japanese citizens who were abducted in the 1970s and ‘80s. The abduction issue has long been a major obstacle in the frosty ties between the two nations, which have no formal diplomatic relations.

N KOREA South Korea’s spy agency says it has solved the mystery of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s 6-week public absence, which set off a frenzy of wild speculation around the world. The National Intelligence Service told legislators that a foreign doctor operated on Kim to remove a cyst from his right ankle, according to aides for two lawmakers. More on p13

THAILAND Prosecutors charge two people with defaming the country’s monarchy in a stage performance at a university last year, moving on a complaint filed by a group of royalists. The two — a 23-year-old male university student and a 26-year-old woman — were charged Friday with lese majeste, which mandates a prison term of up to 15 years for anyone insulting Thailand’s monarchy.

CANADA The Rob Ford era is over as Toronto elects a new mayor, someone who is unlikely to ever make headlines for illegal drug use and public drunkenness. John Tory, a straight-laced, button-down moderate conservative won Monday’s election with 40 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent for Doug Ford, the brother of the outgoing mayor. Left-leaning Olivia Chow was third with nearly 23 percent.

TURKEY A coal mine in southern Turkey collapsed yesterday, trapping 18 workers underground as water surged near them, officials said — an event likely to raise even more concerns about the nation’s poor workplace safety standards.

BRAZIL Officials say police in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo killed more people between January and September than they did during the same period for the past 10 years — and twice as many as the same period a year ago. The Public Safety Department of the country’s largest and most populous state says on its website that 478 people were killed in confrontations with police during the first nine months of this year. That’s almost 100 percent more than the 240 people killed during the same period in 2013.

DENMARK The European Union’s environment agency says the bloc’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by nearly 2 percent last year, putting the EU very close to reaching its emissions target for 2020. That goal is to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases by 20 percent compared to 1990 levels. The European Environment Agency said yesterday that emissions already have fallen 19 percent, meaning the 28-nation bloc is likely to exceed its target.