The world in brief

166 ferry riders missing, Indonesia says

An Indonesian search and rescue team on Tuesday searches near where a ferry sank Monday in Lake Toba, North Sumatra.
An Indonesian search and rescue team on Tuesday searches near where a ferry sank Monday in Lake Toba, North Sumatra.

166 ferry riders missing, Indonesia says

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian officials said today that 166 people are missing from a ferry that sank Monday evening at a popular lake on Sumatra, a much higher number than previously believed.

The boat didn't have a passenger manifest, and disaster officials have several times raised the number of people it was carrying as distraught relatives who rushed to Lake Toba in northern Sumatra provided information. Tuesday, officials said 94 people were missing and expected the number to rise.

Only 18 people were rescued and one death confirmed in the immediate response to the tragedy on Monday evening.

Rescuers searching Tuesday for missing people found bags, jackets, an ID card and other items in the waters but no new survivors.

Cellphone video released by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed the crew of another ferry attempting to rescue people struggling in the waters shortly after the sinking but being hampered by bad weather and rough waters. Distraught relatives gathered at major ferry docks on the lake, hoping for news of missing family members.

China giving ally $100M in military aid

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- China has agreed to provide more than $100 million in military aid to Cambodia, a senior Cambodian defense official said Tuesday.

Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Chhum Socheat said the aid for training, exercise and equipment was agreed upon over the weekend in a meeting between visiting Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh. Wei on Monday also met with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Wei's five-day trip was undertaken to strengthen military ties and attend a China-Cambodia military exhibition. It concludes today.

China is Cambodia's closest political ally and a major economic supporter.

It has provided millions of dollars in aid and investment over the past decade, granted Cambodia a tariff-free status on hundreds of trade items and written off its debt.

In return, Cambodia supports China in international forums, including Beijing's ongoing dispute with Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea. The alliance with Beijing has allowed Hun Sen to ignore Western concerns about human rights and corruption.

Paris attack suspect released from jail

PARIS -- A suspect in the November 2015 extremist attacks in Paris has been released and placed under judicial supervision in Belgium, French prosecutors said Tuesday.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that Ali Oulkadi, a French national living in Belgium who is accused of helping the sole survivor of the group of assailants, Salah Abdeslam, escape on the day after the attacks, was released Monday.

Oulkadi must stay in Belgium, be home at set hours and regularly report to local police. He is banned from going to certain places, establishing contact with a list of individuals and possessing a weapon.

Oulkadi's lawyer Didier de Quevy told BFM television his client left Maubeuge jail, in northern France, on Monday afternoon.

He said his client is banned from getting in contact with Islamist circles and must get back to work and normal family life.

Authorities said Oulkadi drove Abdeslam through Brussels the day after the Paris attacks, which killed 130 people on Nov. 13, 2015. He then dropped Abdeslam off at a safe house that also was used as a workshop for manufacturing explosive belts, according to authorities. Oulkadi was handed charges of criminal terrorist association.

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AP/FELIPE DANA

Fans play soccer Tuesday in Red Square in Moscow during the 2018 soccer World Cup.

Insurgents attack Afghan checkpoints

KABUL, Afghanistan -- An Afghan official said at least four security forces were killed when Taliban fighters targeted army and local police checkpoints in northern Kunduz province.

Nematullah Temori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said six other security personnel were wounded in the attack Tuesday morning in Dashti Archi district.

He added that seven of the insurgents were killed and five others wounded in the battle.

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 holiday cease-fire. The government had offered to extend the cease-fire for another 10 days, but the Taliban announced Sunday that they would resume their attacks.

-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

A Section on 06/20/2018

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