International News

  Canberra / AFP Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday called an election for both houses of parliament on July 2, as he seeks his own mandate with the public just eight months after deposing predecessor Tony Abbott in a party coup. The widely expected announcement was the latest chapter in the turbulent world of Australian politics, where a ...

  Hanoi / AFP Vietnamese police detained scores of people on Sunday as they broke up a protest against a Taiwanese company accused of being behind a toxic leak that has caused mass fish deaths off the central coast. The protest in Hanoi, which follows a similar demonstration last weekend, was swiftly dispersed by authorities on Sunday morning, an AFP ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg Honda Motor will recall an additional 20 million Takata-made airbags globally, a newspaper said on Sunday, in a widening scandal that has led to the biggest auto recall in US history. Tokyo-based auto parts giant Takata is struggling to deal with a defect that can send metal and plastic shrapnel from the inflator canister hurtling toward ...

  Tokyo / Bloomberg China’s trade shrank in April in a sign government stimulus is failing to jolt the world’s second-largest economy out of a prolonged slowdown. Exports contracted by 1.8 percent from a year earlier to $172.7 billion, falling back into negative territory after March’s temporary burst of 11.5 percent growth, customs data showed on Sunday. Imports plunged 10.9 ...

  Beijing / Bloomberg Walt Disney Co. employees and guests received a sneak preview of Shanghai Disneyland, as the world’s largest entertainment company gets set for next month’s official opening of its first theme park in mainland China. A trial run for the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney kicked off recently. Guests are limited to the resort’s employees, partners and stakeholders, ...

  Athens / AFP   Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens on Sunday as Greece’s parliament prepared to vote on a controversial tax and pensions overhaul which has sparked mass opposition. Police said almost 15,000 people turned out to march in Athens and the second city of Thessaloniki against the measures demanded by the EU and IMF ...

  Frankfurt / AFP Greece has “basically achieved” the objectives of the reforms required by its creditors and its eurozone partners will begin discussing possible debt relief for the country, according to European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. “We are now at the time of the first review of the programme (to aid Greece) and the objectives have been basically achieved,” ...

  AFP Eurozone finance ministers hold an emergency meeting on Monday to try to thrash out a difficult deal on fresh reforms for Greece as fears grow of a repeat of last year’s chaotic bailout negotiations. The ministers from the 19 countries that use the euro — the Eurogroup — will also discuss debt relief for Greece, which the International ...

  Bloomberg The U.K. will be safer staying in the European Union, two former chiefs of the country’s security services said, before voters head to the polls next month in an in-out referendum. Cooperation with the 27 other EU members means Britain is better placed to tackle threats ranging from IS terrorism to cyber-attacks by hostile governments, former MI5 chief ...

  FRANKFURT / AP Production of the 500-euro banknote is being discontinued amid concerns it had become too popular among crooks and money launderers. The European Central Bank, the monetary authority for the 19 countries that use the shared currency, made the decision at a meeting. The ECB said it was taking into account concerns that the banknote, which is ...