World briefs

VIETNAM Police have arrested seven people suspected of involvement in the bombing last month of a police station in the Southeast Asian country’s largest city.

THAILAND Two boats carrying more than 130 tourists overturned in rough seas yesterday evening off southern Thailand, and at least seven people are missing.

PHILIPPINES The government will demand that peace talks with communist rebels shift from Europe to the Philippines and the insurgents are encamped in designated areas during the negotiations — conditions the guerrillas waging one of Asia’s longest-raging insurgencies quickly rejected.

SINGAPORE tightened property market curbs after home prices posted a second straight quarter of strong gains, with the government saying it wants to avoid the risk of a sharp correction which could be destabilizing.

JAPAN’s nuclear policy-setting body yesterday endorsed a call for stricter management of its fuel recycling program to reduce its plutonium stockpile. 

IRAQ has banned its farmers from planting summer crops this year as the country grapples with a crippling water shortage that shows few signs of abating.

GERMANY-HUNGARY Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Viktor Orban exchanged barbs yesterday on the issue of migration, underlining the split within the entire European Union.

SPAIN Police said they captured seven key members of the Armenian faction of a Russian organized crime group described as Europe’s most dangerous gang.

BRITAIN Church services, tea parties and even a medically themed symphony were on the agenda as Britain marked the 70th anniversary yesterday of the National Health Service.

CHILE Eight retired soldiers have been sentenced to 18 years in prison for one of the most emblematic murders of Chile’s military dictatorship: the murder of folk singer Victor Jara and a government official.