Saudis say they intercepted Yemen missile

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Shiite rebels said it intercepted a missile fired over southern Riyadh on Tuesday, which the rebels said was targeting a “top leadership” meeting at the royal palace in the kingdom’s capital.

It was the second time in as many months that a rebel projectile had reached as far inside the kingdom as Riyadh.

The Yemeni rebels, known as the Houthis, said they launched a ballistic missile to target Yamama Palace in Riyadh, where King Salman chairs weekly government meetings and receives dignitaries and heads of state from around the world.

The statement from the U.S.-backed coalition, carried by Saudi state TV, said the missile was fired by the Houthis.

State TV said no damage was caused by the intercepted missile.

May’s call to Trump

WASHINGTON— British Prime Minister Theresa May aired her differences with President Donald Trump over the U.S. policy on Jerusalem during a phone call Tuesday, but you wouldn’t know it from the White House account of the conversation.

“The President and Prime Minister discussed next steps in forging peace in the Middle East, ”the White House said ina written statement.

Hours earlier, No. 10 Downing Street had issued a polite but unmistakably more pointed version of events.

“They discussed the different positions we took on the recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, and agreed onthe importance of the U.S. bringing forward new proposals for peace and the international community supporting these efforts,” a spokesman for Ms. May said ina written statement.

Britain had spoken against the U.S. decision earlier this month to recognize the divided holy city as the capital of Israel and to announce a renewed intention to move the U.S. Embassy there. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967, as the capital of a future state.

Carbon-trading scheme

BEIJING — China launched a nationwide carbon-trading scheme Tuesday, solidifying the country’s role as an emerging leader in the fight against climate change.

The market will initially cover about 1,700 of the country’s coal- and naturalgas-based power-generating companies, accounting for about 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year — more than a third of the country’s total, China’s powerful National Development and Reform Commission announced at a news conference.

Later, the scheme will expand to cover seven other sectors, including petrochemicals, chemicals, building materials, and iron and steel.

Austere budget approved

ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s Parliament on Tuesday approved the 2018 state budget, which includes further austerity measures beyond the official end of the country’s third international bailout next summer.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promised that the country will smoothly exit the eight-year crisis that has seen its economy shrink by a quarter and unemployment hit highs previously unseen during peacetime.

The budget promises Greece’s international lenders continued belt-tightening measures and high primary budget surpluses — the budget balance before debt and interest payments are taken into account.