World Briefing

Thailand moved more troops to a nearby area, but strictly as a defensive measure, a senior Thai army officer said.

The troops on both sides remained about 100 yards apart, said Gen. Viboonsak Neepan, a Thai army commander for the region.

Despite increasingly heated rhetoric, fighting did not break out, although the two countries disagreed on who backed down.

EL SALVADOR

U.S. pledges funds for gang control

The U.S. government pledged to give El Salvador $2.6 million to fight gangs.

The money will be used over the next year to help authorities investigate violent gangs, contain their recruiting and improve the country's prison system.

Central American immigrants living in the U.S. in the 1980s started the Mara gangs, which spread to Central America in the 1990s as the U.S. began massive deportations of convicted criminals.

BRITAIN

One less test for schoolchildren

British students will have one less test to take.

Education Secretary Ed Balls said the government was scrapping its national testing of 14-year-olds in math, reading and science.

Like in the United States, British parents and teachers have complained that kids are over-tested and that non-tested subjects are getting squeezed out.

From Times Wire Reports