Reuters World News – Spoken Edition

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand officially ended a year of mourning for its late King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Monday, marking a return to colors for some after a monotone year during which many wore black from head-to-toe out of respect for their revered monarch. Hundreds of thousands of people thronged Bangkok’s historic quarter to bid farewell last week to King Bhumibol, who died in October 2016. His $90 million-dollar funeral, full of pomp and ancient ritual, took place over five days.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Takuya Yokota vividly remembers clutching a flashlight and running to the ocean with his mother and twin brother to look for his older sister in the dark, shouting her name. Megumi, then 13, had disappeared on her way home from school on a cold November day 40 years ago, kidnapped - it emerged decades later - by North Korean agents to help train spies. None of them has ever seen her again, one of scores Japan believes were snatched away in the 1970s and 80s.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump declined to say on Wednesday whether he will visit the Korean Peninsula’s demilitarized zone during an upcoming Asia tour. “I’d rather not say, but you’ll be surprised,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn as he prepared to depart on a trip to Dallas. Trump is scheduled to depart on Nov. 3 on a trip that includes visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) - The morning after Islamic State’s defeat in Raqqa, a local militia fighter stood in a square in the ruined, deserted city center. “There will be more problems here,” he said. The 19-year-old, who gave his name as Moro, was one of few Raqqa natives to witness the aftermath of the battle for the Syrian city. Victory celebrations by Kurdish forces felt muted - there were no civilians left. It was the “liberation” of a ghost town.

EASTERN GHOUTA (Reuters) - A tightening siege has pushed people to the verge of famine in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, residents and aid workers say, bringing desperation to the only major rebel enclave near the Syrian capital. Cases of malnutrition among children have almost doubled in the last two months at one clinic in the suburbs, which have been under siege by Syrian government forces since 2013 but come under new pressure this year as tunnels used to smuggle in food have been cut off.