The World in Brief

Home owners and emergency personnel prepare to evacuate a village threatened by the approaching forest fire near Sala, Central Sweden, on Monday Aug. 4, 2014. The fire has swept over a wide swathe of land for nearly a week, and firefighters predict it will burn for weeks to come. It is classified as the worst forest fire in Sweden's modern history.  (AP Photo / Fredrik Sandberg)  SWEDEN OUT
Home owners and emergency personnel prepare to evacuate a village threatened by the approaching forest fire near Sala, Central Sweden, on Monday Aug. 4, 2014. The fire has swept over a wide swathe of land for nearly a week, and firefighters predict it will burn for weeks to come. It is classified as the worst forest fire in Sweden's modern history. (AP Photo / Fredrik Sandberg) SWEDEN OUT

Germans idle Russia-bound military load

BERLIN -- The German government, ramping up the economic pressure on Russia over its meddling in Ukraine, has blocked delivery of parts for a high-tech military training center that was to be completed in Russia by the end of the year, a spokesman for the Economics Ministry said Monday.

Sigmar Gabriel, the economics minister, withdrew the right of Rheinmetall, one of Germany's leading military equipment contractors, to deliver the final parts of a field-exercise simulator to Russia that was scheduled to be operational in the fall. The move goes a step beyond sanctions adopted by EU members last week, which did not apply to existing contracts.

"You can see from our decision that the German government follows a very clear course, that we, of course, consider to be right," said Tanja Alemany, a spokesman for the Economics Ministry.

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would be open to expanding the existing EU sanctions to include already-signed deals.

Germany suspended the deal for the training center parts in March, after Russia annexed Crimea. The action Monday makes the suspension permanent.

Iraq air force to aid jihadist-beset Kurds

BAGHDAD -- Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called upon his country's armed forces to help Kurdish forces battle a Sunni militant offensive in northern Iraq that has caused tens of thousands of people from the minority Yazidi community to flee their homes.

Iraq's military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said Monday that al-Maliki has commanded its air force to provide aerial support to the Kurds in the first sign of cooperation between the two militaries since Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, was captured by the militants June 10.

When it overran the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in June, Iraqi security forces virtually collapsed, with police and soldiers abandoning arsenals of heavy weapons.

The Islamic State captured the northern towns of Sinjar and Zumar on Saturday, prompting an estimated 40,000 from the minority Yazidi sect to flee, said Jawhar Ali Begg, a spokesman for the community.

18 soldiers die in rising Azerbaijani strife

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Azerbaijan and Armenia on Monday both reported more losses in a sharp escalation of fighting over the South Caucasus region Nagorno-Karabakh, with 18 soldiers now confirmed dead.

The Azerbaijani region, situated between eastern Europe and western Asia, and some adjacent territory have been under the control of Armenian soldiers and ethnic Armenian local troops since the end in 1994 of a six-year separatist war. Both sides report frequent shootings and attempted incursions along the cease-fire line, but the latest outbreak of fighting has been the worst in many years.

Russia, the United States and the European Union have all expressed concern and urged all to respect the cease-fire.

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said Monday that 13 soldiers were killed in the fighting that spiked over the weekend, and Nagorno-Karabakh's armed forces said five of its soldiers were killed.

Guam jury: Man sane, murdered tourists

HAGATNA, Guam-- A jury convicted a Guam man Monday of murdering three Japanese tourists in a car crash-and-stabbing rampage last year that hurt 11 others.

The panel of 10 women and two men rejected the mental illness defense of 22-year-old Chad Ryan DeSoto. His lawyers argued he spiraled out of control into psychosis after his grandfather died and his girlfriend moved to Utah.

The jury agreed with prosecutors who say DeSoto knew what he was doing during the attack in a busy tourist spot on Feb. 12, 2013. DeSoto was accused of barreling his car down a busy sidewalk, crashing it into a convenience store before getting out and stabbing people who were nearby.

DeSoto was also convicted of attempted murder. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced Sept. 25.

--Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

A Section on 08/05/2014

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