World briefs

TAIWAN China is again heating up the rhetoric against rival Taiwan, with a spokesman saying yesterday that Taiwan’s cancellation of added flights during the Lunar New Year holiday “hurt the feelings of people on both sides.” More on p10

VIETNAM A court in Hanoi handed down prison terms up to eight years to three activists yesterday after finding them guilty of posting video clips on social media critical of the communist government, their lawyer said.

PHILIPPINES The military deployed a Japanese-donated patrol plane yesterday to a disputed shoal guarded by China in the South China Sea, and the aircraft did not encounter any Chinese resistance, officials said.

AUSTRALIA The government has launched an urgent investigation into the loss of thousands of classified documents that were sold with two second-hand filing cabinets.

INDIA Rescue workers yesterday recovered another body from a canal where a bus fell earlier this week, reportedly while its driver was talking on his cellphone, bringing the death toll to 43.

KENYA Former Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said yesterday that gunshots and a grenade were fired at his home in what he called “an assassination attempt.”

IRAN President Hassan Rouhani says the people of Iran will continue supporting the Islamic Republic despite foreign pressure.

TURKEY A court in Istanbul sentenced three people to life prison terms yesterday for their involvement in an Islamic State group suicide bombing in 2016 at Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district that killed 12 German tourists.

VATICAN The Vatican effectively rebuked the retired archbishop of Hong Kong for suggesting that Pope Francis was out of the loop on negotiations between the Holy See and China.

GERMANY A 20-year-old German man has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for killing a child and a 22-year-old acquaintance.

BRAZIL A high court judge rejected a request by lawyers for former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to block his arrest for a graft conviction that was upheld last week.

PERU The political party loyal to former President Alberto Fujimori has expelled the ex-strongman’s son as a rift widened between his two children over the party’s botched attempt to oust Peru’s current president in December.