Worldinbrief

NY TIMES SWINGS TO LOSS AS AD REVENUE SLIDES

NEW YORK CITY: The New York Times Co. swung to a loss in the second quarter, hurt by weaker advertising revenues as it seeks to navigate a transition to digital. The

Times reported a net loss for shareholders of $211,000, compared with a profit of $16 million in the same period a year ago. Overall revenues edged up 3 percent to $219 million, but ad revenues slid 11.7 percent to $131 million. Print advertising revenue fell 14.1 percent while digital advertising revenue decreased 6.8 percent, underscoring the challenges for the newspaper’s efforts to emphasize its digital edition. Circulation revenues were a bright spot, led by a 15-percent jump in digital-only subscriptions.

BIDEN LEADS MOURNERS FOR SLAIN BATON ROUGE COPS

CHICAGO, Illinois: US Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday pleaded for better understanding between cops and the communities they serve at a public memorial for three Baton Rouge police officers slain in a targeted gun attack. The July 17 shooting, which authorities called an “assassination” targeting police, was the latest incident exposing deep racial fissures in American society. Ten days earlier, another gunman in Dallas killed five officers, in the midst of national tensions and street protests brought on by separate recent incidents of police shootings of African-Americans captured on video. The killed Baton Rouge officers—Montrell Jackson, Matthew Gerald and Brad Garafola—were represented by three empty chairs on the stage of the Healing Place Church. Biden and US Attorney General Loretta Lynch were among the dignitaries who attended the funeral, along with hundreds of police officers.

FRANCE NAMES 2ND CHURCH ATTACKER

PARIS: France on Thursday identified the second jihadist involved in the brutal killing of an elderly priest, as calls mounted for the prime minister and interior minister to resign after the latest terror attack. Prosecutors named the assailant as 19-year- old Abdel Malik Petitjean, who was listed in June on France’s “Fiche S” system of people posing a potential threat to national security after he tried to reach Syria from Turkey. Petitjean, whose face was disfigured when he was shot dead by police, had been harder to identify than his accomplice Adel Kermiche, also 19. Investigators confirmed Petitjean’s identity after a DNA match with his mother. The two jihadists pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in a video made before they stormed a church in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne- du-Rouvray on Tuesday and slit the throat of 86-year- old priest Jacques Hamel at the altar.

BRAZIL ARRESTS MAN OVER TERRORISM ALLEGATIONS – LAWYER

RIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian man has been arrested on terrorism charges just over a week from the Olympics after he posted comments online about the Islamic State group, his lawyer said Thursday. Chaer Kaloun, 28, a Brazilian of Lebanese descent, was “taken overnight to Ary Franco prison in Rio and arrested for having posted comments on Islamic State,” lawyer Edson Ferreira told Agence France-Presse. Officials gave little detail about the arrest, which comes a week after 12 men were arrested on accusations of forming a cell to discuss potential attacks at the time of the Rio Olympics and swearing loyalty to Islamic State. The justice department would only say that the arrest was made under anti-terrorism laws and that the indictment remains sealed. Earlier, Ferreira said the allegations lacked substance. “There is no basic accusation,” he told Globo television.

PUTIN SHUFFLES REGIONAL OFFICIALS AFTER CUSTOMS CHIEF AXED

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday carried out a major reshuffle of top regional officials after the government sacked the country’s scandal-tainted customs chief. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed off on the resignation of customs head Andrei Belyaninov—a former KGB agent who served in East Germany in the 1980s along with Putin—after security agents this week searched his offices and home over the alleged smuggling of high- end liquors. Belyaninov was replaced by Vladimir Bulavin—a former deputy chief in the FSB security agency—who headed the country’s northwestern district, with his appointment setting off a chain of further moves. Putin shifted another FSB boss to head the strategically sensitive Kaliningrad region and made a senior interior ministry official governor of another central region in changes that strengthened the power of security apparatchiks.

ISRAEL PM SAYS HE BACKS EGYPT’S PEACE PUSH

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his support for Egypt’s efforts to mediate peace with the Palestinians on Thursday, in a further sign of improving relations with Cairo. Speaking at an event hosted by Cairo’s envoy near Tel Aviv to celebrate Egypt’s national day, Netanyahu thanked President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi for his commitment to the peace process. “We welcome the efforts to advance peace by President Sisi and we welcome the effort to incorporate other Arab states in this larger effort of a broader peace,” he said. “Through storms, turbulence, earthquakes, ( Israel and Egypt) have remained at peace and we shall remain at peace.”