HK leader to hold dialogue with public

HONG KONG • Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and some of her principal officials will meet members of the public at the first community dialogue next Thursday, as she tries to engage the people amid anti-government protests.

It will be an open dialogue platform aimed at reaching out to the public and for them to express their views to the government, which is working to understand the discontent and to look for solutions, according to a government statement.

Hong Kong has been roiled by nearly four months of pro-democracy protests.

Suicide bombing kills 20 at Afghan hospital

KABUL • A powerful suicide truck bomb devastated a hospital in southern Afghanistan early yesterday, killing 20 people and wounding 97 others, according to the provincial governor, while a deadly drone strike that killed at least 30 in the country's east was blamed on US forces.

The Taleban, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, has carried out nearly daily attacks since peace talks with the United States collapsed earlier this month.

Yesterday's explosion destroyed part of the hospital in Qalat, the capital of southern Zabul province.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS

Europe ready to slap tariffs on US: France

PARIS • French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire yesterday said Europe is ready to impose retaliatory tariffs next year on American goods as part of a long-running dispute over subsidies to plane makers Airbus and Boeing.

He told reporters that "trade wars are good for no one", noting the damage caused worldwide by the trade conflict between the United States and China.

But Europe is bracing itself for possible US sanctions over the plane subsidy dispute and "Americans should know that we are ready to react", he said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS