Trump backs raising age for buying rifles

WASHINGTON - The United States should keep assault rifles out of the hands of anyone under 21, President Donald Trump says, defying his loyal supporters in the National Rifle Association amid the public reckoning over gun violence. He also pushed hard for arming security guards and many teachers in US schools.

EU leaders to discuss post-Brexit budget hole

BRUSSELS - EU leaders minus Britain were scheduled to debate for the first time on Friday how to fill a Brexit-sized hole in the bloc's budget and how to choose a successor to European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker.

IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Thumb theft 'unlikely to stop art exchanges'

Experts on Chinese art in the United States don't believe that the theft of a thumb from a 2,000-year-old Terracotta Warrior statue on loan to a Philadelphia museum will stop similar exchanges of artifacts from China in the future.

Neanderthals' arty side revealed

LONDON - The world's oldest known cave paintings were made by Neanderthals, not modern humans, suggesting our extinct cousins were far from being uncultured brutes.

'Fattest man' eyeing a lighter, brighter future

GUADALAJARA, Mexico-The folds of flesh on Juan Pedro Franco's back sway heavily as he cranks the pedals of a modified bicycle with his arms, exercising to boost his already jaw-dropping weightloss total of 250 kilograms.

SpaceX launch boosts plan to create satellite internet

LOS ANGELES - SpaceX completed another launch of its Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday with the first two prototype satellites of its global broadband internet-in-space project, Starlink, successfully deployed in orbit.

App becomes new outlet for #MeToo

SEOUL - A chat app where South Koreans can anonymously dish the dirt on their misbehaving bosses and colleagues is belatedly stirring the country's #MeToo movement, shedding new light on sexual harassment in the heavily male-dominated corporate culture.

Competitiveness challenges as labor productivity lags in Laos

VIENTIANE, Laos - The labor force is cheap and this makes the country a competitive investment destination. But this perception may no longer be accurate as the World Bank's data has revealed that the productivity of the Lao workforce is much lower than that of neighboring nations.

Solar pumps up incomes for Nepal's quake-hit farmers

SHIKHARPUR, Nepal - In the village of Shikharpur in Nepal's remote Himalayan foothills, the faint sound of water can be heard trickling through a large metal pump.

3-D limbs aid war wounded, kids

AMMAN - Iraqi soldier Abdullah lost his left hand fighting the Islamic State group but now he has a prosthetic one - thanks to a 3-D printing lab in Jordan.

Pakistan's men finding room to groom

ISLAMABAD - Nails are buffed, blackheads scrubbed and coffee sipped to the sound of clipping scissors inside the 'Men's' salon in Pakistan's capital city, where a growing number of male patrons are set on revamping their style.