World briefs

US-N. KOREA North Korea yesterday threatened to scrap the historic summit next month, saying it has no interest in a “one-sided” affair meant to pressure the North to abandon its nuclear weapons. 

HONG KONG A group of Hong Kong journalists have demanded that mainland authorities release a television news journalist who was detained by police in Beijing, trying to cover a disciplinary hearing for a human rights lawyer.

VIETNAM A group of Chinese tourists wearing T-shirts depicting the country’s territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea has sparked anger in Vietnam. 

AUSTRALIA A state court employee has been fired for looking up in a restricted computer system details of charges facing a senior Vatican cleric.

INDIA announced yesterday that its troops will halt counterinsurgency operations in disputed Kashmir during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, its first such declaration in 18 years.

RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin drove a large construction truck to road test the much-anticipated bridge linking southern Russia and the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE A senior Hamas official says the vast majority of protesters killed by Israeli fire during protests on the Gaza border this week were members of the Islamic militant group. 

ITALY’s two populist leaders are brushing off fears in Brussels and the markets over the outlines of their possible government, and are insisting they are close to a deal designed to help ordinary Italians.

PORTUGAL Officials in Portugal say a bus carrying British tourists in the southern Algarve region has rammed into the back of a cement truck on a highway, injuring 15 passengers, four of them seriously.

VENEZUELA Kellogg Co. has closed operations in Venezuela and laid off 300 workers, prompting socialist President Nicolas Maduro to accuse the company of trying to sabotage his chances of getting re-elected in Sunday’s presidential vote.

BRAZIL A Florida man has pleaded guilty to illegally shipping firearms to Brazil, many of them concealed in water heaters and other large appliances.

CANADA’s federal government will cover financial losses a pipeline builder might suffer if British Colombia’s provincial government continues to obstruct the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the country’s finance minister said yesterday.