World briefs

CHINA Activists say police have detained seven employees of a shoe factory amid a quarrel over back pay and benefits in a rare case of detentions in a labor dispute. Rights advocate Peng Jiayong said yesterday that employees went to the Xinsheng shoe factory in Guangzhou on Monday after the local government promised a “satisfactory” solution to the dispute. They were met with about 200 hundred police officers who took away workers’ representatives.

USA-CHINA Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. and China must work together to stave off a global catastrophe from climate change. He appealed for greater cooperation between the two world powers despite strains between them over cyber theft and maritime security.

NEW ZEALAND says it won’t send combat troops to Iraq to directly fight the Islamic State group but it could send military personnel to help train Iraqi forces behind the front lines.

MYANMAR Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has a message for President Barack Obama and other world leaders as they head to Myanmar: The international community’s faith in its military-dominated government came too early and too fast, and democratic reforms stalled long ago. A regional summit next week in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, will shine a spotlight on the country’s progress toward democracy since an elected government took over from a military junta three years ago.
Pakistan Police in Pakistan say a Muslim mob has beaten to death a Christian couple and burned their bodies in a brick kiln where they worked over them allegedly desecrating the Quran.

ISRAEL A Palestinian man rammed his car into a crowded train platform in east Jerusalem yesterday and then attacked people with an iron bar, killing one person and injuring 13 in what authorities called a terror attack before he was shot dead by the police.

BURKINA FASO The presidents of Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana were visiting Burkina Faso yesterday as part of the international community’s pressure on the country’s military leaders to quickly return to civilian rule. Opposition protests forced President Blaise Compaore to resign last week after 27 years in power. Burkina Faso’s military then stepped in, designating Lt. Col. Isaac Yacouba Zida as the transitional leader. The international community wants the military to swiftly return the country to constitutional rule. On Monday, the African Union, representing 53 countries on the continent, gave Burkina Faso two weeks to do so or face sanctions.

USA Voters in the northwestern state of Oregon and the Washington capital district approved ballot measures Tuesday allowing the recreational use of marijuana by adults, elating legalization activists who hope to extend their winning streak across the United States. Oregon will join the company of Colorado and Washington state, where voters approved the recreational use of pot two years ago.