WORLD HIGHLIGHTS

►Belgium BRUSSELS

European Union countries must send their anti-missile systems to bolster Ukraine's air defences as Russia pounds its cities, the EU'S top diplomat said yesterday, warning that Europe cannot just rely on the United States to help Kyiv.

►Brazil RIO DE

JANEIRO Seven people were killed and 15 others injured after a passenger bus crashed on Wednesday morning in southeast Brazil's Minas Gerais state, the local Military Highway Police said.

►Ecuador QUITO

The mayor of a small mining town in Ecuador was shot dead on Wednesday, just days before a national referendum on whether to take tougher measures against crime, authorities said.

►US

NEW YORK

The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday called for international attention to the ongoing war in North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

►South Korea SEOUL

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong renewed his vow to accomplish medical reform yesterday, although a mass walkout by trainee doctors in protest of the reform has crippled public health services for about two months.

►Japan TOKYO

Eight people were reported injured yesterday after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off southwestern Japan, but there appeared to be no major damage or tsunami.

►Afghanistan KABUL

The number of flood-related casualties in Afghanistan in the past few days has increased as 70 people have been confirmed dead and more than 50 others sustained injuries, spokesman for the national disaster authority Mullah Janan Saeq has said. AGENCIES