World Briefs

VIETNAM-RUSSIA The prime ministers of Vietnam and Russia agreed yesterday to nearly triple their countries’ two-way trade to USD10 billion by 2020 from $3.55 billion last year. 

EAST TIMOR Scores of people demonstrated in East Timor’s capital yesterday to protest the killing of three people at a party, allegedly by a drunken policeman.

PAKISTAN’s prime minister [pictured] fired back yesterday after President Donald Trump accused the country of harboring Osama bin Laden despite getting billions of dollars in American aid, saying Pakistan had suffered 75,000 casualties and lost $123 billion in the “US War on Terror.”

IRAQ Saudi Arabia’s King Salman received Iraq’s president in Riyadh, a day after the Iraqi official visited the kingdom’s rival, Iran. Barham Salih’s back-to-back visits to Iran and Saudi Arabia reflect the delicate balance Iraq seeks to maintain in a region where its two powerful neighbors are battling for supremacy. 

YEMEN A senior leader of Yemen’s Shiite rebels said yesterday that the group will halt rocket fire into Saudi Arabia for the sake of peace efforts, answering a key Saudi demand in the first public sign of hope for the latest push to stop the bloodshed and civilian suffering in the Arab world’s poorest country.

SYRIA Government forces captured a southern region from the Islamic State group yesterday after weeks of fighting that left scores dead on both sides, a government-linked media outlet reported.

ISRAEL avoided early elections after a key coalition partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said yesterday that he would not withdraw his party, keeping the coalition intact despite a crisis triggered by a violent flare-up with Gaza militants.

BRITAIN Prime Minister Theresa May sought to seal business support for her Brexit deal with the European Union yesterday, but remained on a collision course with a group of lawmakers seeking to unseat her. 

HAITI Six people were killed and at least five others were wounded during demonstrations across Haiti protesting allegations of embezzlement from a Venezuelan program that provided the country with subsidized oil, police said.