World briefs

SINGAPORE In the latest twist in the drama-filled nuclear talks with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump announced on the eve of their historic meeting that he will be leaving Singapore early because the nuclear negotiations have moved “more quickly than expected.” 

PHILIPPINES The president’s office has called Chinese seizures of fish caught by Philippine fishing boats near a disputed shoal unacceptable. 

VIETNAM Protesters clashed with police over a proposed law on special economic zones they fear will be dominated by Chinese investors, while the National Assembly yesterday to put the legislation on hold for several months. 

THAILAND Five men were fatally shot yesterday in southern Thailand, police said, the latest killings in a region plagued by insurgency for more than a decade. 

EGYPT-ETHIOPIA Egypt released 32 Ethiopian prisoners during a visit by the country’s prime minister in which he sought to assure Cairo that a massive upstream Nile dam would not cut into its share of the river.

BAHRAIN’s king has enacted a law banning members of banned political parties, felons and convicts who later had received royal pardons from standing as candidates for elections, effectively blocking Bahrain’s opposition from taking part.

SPAIN stepped up yesterday and offered to take in a rescue ship carrying more than 600 migrants after Italy and Malta refused. The diplomatic standoff had left the migrants stranded at sea.

BRITAIN Prime Minister Theresa May urged feuding Conservative lawmakers yesterday to unite and prevent the government from being defeated in key votes on its main Brexit bill.

CHILE Pope Francis accepted the resignations yesterday of the bishop at the center of Chile’s clerical sex abuse scandal and two other priests, as he launched a purge of the Catholic Church in the country.

BRAZIL Police say a newborn girl miraculously survived after being buried alive for seven hours in the central state of Mato Grosso. The police received an anonymous tip related to the burial and dug up the baby.