World briefs

KOREAS A beaming South Korean President Moon Jae-in, freshly returned home yesterday from a whirlwind three-day summit with Kim Jong Un, said the North Korean leader wants the U.S. secretary of state to visit Pyongyang soon for nuclear talks. 

INDONESIA’s president has signed a moratorium on new palm oil development and ordered a review of existing plantations, an official said yesterday, in a blow to an industry blamed for environmental destruction and worker exploitation. 

MALAYSIA Former Prime Minister Najib Razak pleaded not guilty yesterday to 25 new charges of abuse of power and money laundering over the multimillion-dollar looting of a state investment fund.

INDIA-PAKISTAN Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has written to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, seeking to resolve outstanding disputes between the two nuclear-armed nations, including the issue of the divided region of Kashmir.

LEBANON The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah boasted yesterday the group now possesses “highly accurate” missiles despite Israeli attempts to prevent it from acquiring such weapons.

RUSSIA Election officials in Russia’s Far East have cancelled the results of Sunday’s gubernatorial election following reports of blatant vote rigging and say they will hold a new vote.

UKRAINE’s president says the country needs to amend its constitution to make NATO membership its long-term goal.

FRANCE Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is refusing to undergo a court-ordered psychiatric exam for tweeting brutal images of Islamic State violence, comparing the demand to methods used in totalitarian regimes.

NETHERLANDS A train slammed into an electric cargo bike in the Netherlands yesterday, killing four young children and leaving two other people critically injured, authorities said.

GUATEMALA U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres has rejected a request by Guatemala’s government to name a new head of a U.N. commission investigating corruption in the Central American nation.