IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Afghanistan

US military presence boosted

The Pentagon will send almost 4,000 additional US forces to Afghanistan, a Trump administration official said on Thursday, hoping to break a stalemate in a war that has now passed to a third US commander in chief. The deployment will be the largest of US manpower under Donald Trump's young presidency. The decision by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis could be announced as early as next week, the official said.

Greece

New debt deal aids Athens

The government avoided another potential brush with bankruptcy after striking a deal with European creditors to tide it over for the rest of the year and gained assurances that its repayment burden will be eased when it finally can stand on its own. The eurozone agreed on Thursday to clear the release of a further $9.5 billion after Athens delivered on an array of reforms. Getting the money was becoming urgent as Greece has a big repayment hump next month.

Australia

Gun amnesty amid crime concern

The country will allow gun owners to hand in illegal firearms without penalty from next month as concerns grow over gun crimes involving such weapons, a federal minister said on Friday. The three-month nationwide amnesty on surrendered firearms will be Australia's first since 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state, galvanizing support for tough national gun controls.

United Kingdom

Knife arrest near Parliament

Police on Friday arrested a man with a knife near the House of Commons in London. There were no injuries. The incident came just months after a man drove a car into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge and then charged into a Parliament courtyard, stabbing a police officer to death.

United States

New York gets a 'nightlife envoy'

The New York mayor's office has created a new "nightlife ambassador" job in its administration to serve as a liaison between the city government and nightclubs. London Mayor Sadiq Khan created a similar position last year in order to manage the economy of late-night businesses and balance their needs with that of the city's residents.

Japan

Diving robot to probe nuke plant

An industrial group unveiled on Thursday a robot designed for underwater probes of damage from meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Remote-controlled robots are key to the decades-long decommissioning process for the plant. But super-high radiation and structural damage inside the reactors hampered earlier attempts to inspect areas close to the reactors' cores.