WSJ.com What's News - Worldwide News Briefs for Jun 22

FIRST TEST FOR SAUDI ARABIA'S KING-IN-WAITING: FIXING THE ECONOMY

The economic reform plan championed by newly-designated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has made little headway. The first heir to the throne now gets another chance.

MOSUL SEEKS TO EXPEL FAMILIES OF ISLAMIC STATE MEMBERS

Local governments in northern Iraq are seeking to punish the families of Islamic State members, in defiance of warnings by the nation's leader that the policy will further fragment the country as it emerges from years of war.

BRITAIN SHOULDN'T MISTAKE BREXIT TALKS FOR POKER OR WAR

The U.K. government's apparent conviction that it can bluff its way to success in negotiations with the EU-or prevail with a last-minute, D-Day-style deception-reveals a fundamental misunderstanding, Stephen Fidler writes.

MACRON SHIFTS FRANCE'S STANCE ON REMOVING ASSAD FROM POWER

President Emmanuel Macron said removing Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from power shouldn't be a precondition for a peace deal in the war-torn nation, a shift in French policy.

MIGRANTS RETURN TO FRANCE'S 'JUNGLE' IN CALAIS

Hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Africa have taken refuge in wooded areas around the port town of Calais, saddling President Emmanuel Macron with a humanitarian and diplomatic mess.

U.K. WARNS CLADDING FROM TOWER FIRE ON HUNDREDS OF BUILDINGS

The U.K. government said Thursday it had identified about 600 publicly owned residential towers that had installed some form of cladding and authorities are running tests on those building to determine how many used the same material as Grenfell Tower, the site of the disaster that killed at least 79.

MILITARIES HUDDLE TO HEAD OFF ISLAMIC STATE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Three Southeast Asian nations pushed for better counterterrorism coordination amid a battle between government troops and Islamic State-aligned militants in the southern Philippines.

DOZENS OF AFGHANS KILLED IN BLAST AS TALIBAN ADVANCE IN HELMAND PROVINCE

A car bomb killed 34 people in the southern Afghanistan city of Lashkar Gah, the latest attack in Helmand province where Taliban militants are closing in on the provincial capital.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 22, 2017 17:14 ET (21:14 GMT)