World Briefs

AUSTRALIA-INDONESIA Indonesian and Australian ministers signed an agreement to strengthen government economic exchanges yesterday as the neighboring countries work toward forging a bilateral free trade deal.

MYANMAR Lawyers for two Reuters journalists sentenced to seven years in prison in Myanmar for possession of official documents are appealing the verdict, the news agency said yesterday. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been reporting on a military-led brutal crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority when they were arrested and charged with violating Myanmar’s colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

INDIA Villagers in northern India have crushed a tiger to death with a tractor after it killed a man, despite the tiger living in a wildlife reserve, officials said yesterday.

CAMEROON Armed men have kidnapped at least 78 students and their principal from a Presbyterian school in Nkwen village in Cameroon’s restive northwest region, a governor said yesterday.

POLAND Donald Tusk, the head of the European Council, was questioned yesterday in his native Poland for a parliamentary investigation into a pyramid scheme that cheated thousands of Poles out of their savings during his time as prime minister.

GERMANY Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted yesterday that she can work well with any potential successor as leader of her party, including a one-time rival seeking a comeback after a decade-long absence.

FRANCE Two buildings collapsed in the southern city of Marseille yesterday, leaving a giant pile of rubble and beams. Fire services said two people were lightly hurt.

MEXICO A big group of Central Americans pushed on toward Mexico City from a coastal state yesterday, planning to exit a part of the country that has long been treacherous for migrants seeking to get to the United States.

ARGENTINA A battery of corruption allegations and criminal charges against former President Cristina Fernandez hasn’t fazed a strong band of hard-core backers, who have helped make her a leading — if undeclared — contender to regain power in next year’s elections.