Wed, Jun 20, 2018 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  AFGHANISTAN

  Taliban assault kills four

  At least four security forces were killed when Taliban fighters targeted army and local police checkpoints in northern Kunduz Province, an Afghan official said. Six other security personnel were wounded in the attack yesterday morning in Dashti Archi district, said Nematullah Temori, spokesman for the provincial governor. Seven of the insurgents were killed and five others wounded in the battle, he added. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Kunduz, but Taliban are active in Kunduz and have repeatedly claimed attacks against Afghan security forces there. The attack happened after the Eid al-Fitr ceasefire. The government had offered to extend the ceasefire for another 10 days, but the Taliban on Sunday announced that they would resume their attacks.

  SOUTH KOREA

  Drills suspended to aid talks

  A joint military exercise scheduled with the US was suspended to support ongoing talks both countries have with North Korea, South Korea said. The South Korean government believes that the decision would help maintain momentum in the talks, South Korean Ministry of National Defense spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said yesterday. She spoke after the US and South Korea announced that the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills slated for August had been called off. The announcement was widely anticipated following US President Donald Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last week. Trump said after the summit that he would suspend the US military’s “war games” with South Korea unless the talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program break down. His statement appeared to catch both South Korea and the Pentagon by surprise.

  INDIA

  Cheaters on test arrested

  Police in northern India have broken up a series of scams that used professional test takers and high-tech listening devices to help applicants pass a two-day test to become police constables. The Uttar Pradesh state Special Task Force made 19 arrests on Monday, police officials said. Testing to become constables — low-level Indian police officers — began yesterday. Those arrested included so-called “solvers” — people paid to take a test for someone else — and agents who represent them. Police also seized small listening devices, designed to be worn inside the ear, so that answers could be dictated to test takers. Cheating is rampant in Indian exams, and police have stepped up enforcement in recent years to try to lessen the problem.

  PHILIPPINES

  Chief justice’s ouster upheld

  The Philippine Supreme Court has upheld the expulsion of its chief justice, the authoritarian president’s highest-ranking critic, in a final ruling that critics warned is unconstitutional and threatens judicial independence and the country’s fragile democracy. Justices yesterday voted 8-6 to uphold their May 11 decision to oust Maria Lourdes Sereno from the 15-member high court and deny her appeal, court spokesman Theodore Te said. The government’s solicitor-general had asked the court to boot her out for allegedly failing to file some of her past asset disclosures, a charge that she denies. Sereno’s expulsion cut short a separate congressional impeachment attempt against her. The former law professor argues that the government petition to oust her violates the constitution, which stipulates that justices like her can be removed only by congressional impeachment.

  UNITED STATES

  Porn made at firehouse

  Two Akron, Ohio, firefighters in have been suspended for allegedly making pornographic videos at a firehouse. Arthur Dean and Deann Eller were placed on administrative leave on Monday while the city launched an investigation into the matter. Fire Chief Clarence Tucker says someone told a firefighter last week about the acts possibly being performed on city property and the firefighter reported it to his supervisor, who then told the chief. Tucker and Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said in a joint statement that Dean and Eller did not work at the same fire station, but were known to be in a long-term relationship. A spokesman for the local firefighters’ union said Eller and Dean had no comment.

  CANADA

  Mosque arson condemned

  Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and other leaders on Monday condemned a “brazen” act of arson at an Alberta mosque in the town of Edson. The 30-year-old mosque was set ablaze Saturday night, blackening the entrance to the building, but otherwise causing no injuries and little damage. “All of Canada stands together with the community against this brazen act, which is under investigation. Everyone has the right to practice their faith without fear,” Goodale said on Twitter. Surveillance footage showed a person in a dark hoodie carrying a jerry can fleeing the mosque at about 11pm.

  SWEDEN

  Drive-by shooting kills three

  A fatal shooting of three men in Malmo on Monday night was the latest incident in suburban feuds between criminal gangs fighting over territory or honor. Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson called the shootings an “abominable crime.” Malmo police yesterday said that six men were shot as they left an Internet cafe, with more than a dozen shots fired. Two of the men — aged 18 and 29 — died overnight, police said, while hospital authorities said a third man, in his 30s, also died. “Those involved are to be considered as gang-members who are involved in serious organized crime,” Malmo police chief Stefan Sinteus Sinteus said.

  UNITED STATES

  FDA mulls pot-derived drug

  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to decide soon whether to give its first approval to a prescription drug made from the marijuana plant. However, parents who have used other products containing chemicals from the plant to treat their children’s severe forms of epilepsy are feeling more cautious than celebratory. They want assurance that existing medical marijuana markets in more than two dozen states would not be harmed if the drug called Epidiolex gets approved. Advocates worry that drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals has lobbied for changes to several states’ definition of marijuana, seeking legal cover for pharmacies to sell cannabis-derived products that have the FDA’s backing.

  UNITED STATES

  Presley jet for sale again

  A private jet once owned by Elvis Presley that has sat on a runway in Roswell, New Mexico for nearly four decades is back on the auction block. The online auction site IronPlanet said that the plane with red velvet seats had returned the market after its current owner bought it last year for US$430,000. However, the red 1962 Lockheed Jetstar has no engine and needs a restoration of its cockpit. The plane has been privately owned for 36 years. Photographs show the exterior in need of restoration and seats of the cockpit torn.
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