World briefs

US Washington will not ease sanctions against North Korea until it denuclearizes, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday, as he reassured key Asian allies that President Donald Trump had not backed down on Pyongyang’s weapons program. 

KOREAS The rival Koreas agreed yesterday to fully restore their cross-border communication lines after holding rare high-level military talks on reducing tensions. 

PHILIPPINES The government is delaying a resumption of peace talks with communist guerrillas to allow public consultations, an official said yesterday, adding that efforts to end one of Asia’s longest rebellions were “now at the cusp of some major breakthroughs.”

INDIA A senior journalist and his two police bodyguards were fatally shot by assailants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police and the journalist’s colleagues said. Shujaat Bukhari was shot by unidentified gunmen as he left his office in Srinagar, the disputed region’s main city.

VIETNAM An American citizen of Vietnamese descent has been detained in Ho Chi Minh City after joining a protest over a controversial draft law on special economic zones that protesters fear would favor Chinese investors.

HUNGARY A court sentenced four human traffickers to 25 years in prison each for their roles in the 2015 case in which 71 migrants suffocated to death in the back of a refrigerated truck found on a highway in Austria.

GREEK lawmakers approved yesterday the last batch of economic reforms required by creditors, as the country approaches the end of its international bailout.

NICARAGUA Roman Catholic authorities say talks will resume today to seek a solution to a political crisis that has seen more than 160 people killed in unrest since April.

UGANDA’s military says a former ally of the longtime president who was recently fired as national police chief has been taken into custody for unspecified questioning.