World briefs

CHINESE banks were told by the government yesterday to lend more to entrepreneurs to help shore up flagging economic growth amid an escalating trade dispute with Washington.

INDONESIA’s disaster agency says the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi island has risen to 1,763, with more than 5,000 feared missing. 

N. KOREA U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo reported progress yesterday after meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang amid high expectations that he can resolve details over a second summit with President Donald Trump.

MALAYSIA Eight suspected militants, including seven foreigners, have been arrested for allegedly spreading religious extremism that could threaten national security and fan terrorism in the region.

PAKISTAN ordered 18 international aid organizations to close, threatening the assistance they provide to some of the country’s most vulnerable, international aid workers said Friday.

VIETNAM A court in Ho Chi Minh City sentenced five activists to up to 15 years in prison on Friday after finding them guilty of running a political group that worked to overthrow the country’s one-party Communist rule.

USA A crash involving a limousine at a popular upstate New York tourist spot killed 20 people. Local officials told the Times Union of Albany that a limo speeding down a hill hit bystanders Saturday afternoon at the Apple Barrel Country Store in Schoharie, about 270 kilometers north of New York City.

BELARUS The country’s authoritarian president has rejected a prospective law against domestic violence as Western “nonsense,” saying that physical punishment could be “useful” in raising children.

GERMAN police have ended a far-right concert early after eight officers were slightly injured by neo-Nazis throwing bottles and rocks at them.

CONGO’s Health Ministry says at least 39 people are dead and more than 80 people have been hospitalized after a tanker truck collided with another truck in western Congo.