PHILIPPINES The country’s president flew for the first time yesterday to a besieged southern city to cheer troops who have been trying to quell a nearly two-month uprising by Islamic State group-linked militants, who he warned were plotting to attack other cities. President Rodrigo Duterte landed with top generals in a military camp in Marawi city, which briefly came under fire from militant snipers shortly before he arrived.
THAILAND A former monk known for a jet-setting lifestyle was back in Thailand yesterday after he was extradited from the United States, where he fled to escape charges including statutory rape and fraud.
EAST TIMOR Almost two dozen parties are contesting parliamentary elections in East Timor this weekend that are likely to return independence heroes to power despite frustration in the young democracy with lack of economic progress and warnings the country could be bankrupt within a decade.
CAMBODIA Wildlife researchers have found a breeding location for the masked finfoot bird, one of the world’s most endangered, raising hopes of its continuing survival, the researchers announced yesterday.
AUSTRALIA-SRI LANKA Australia is contributing funds to help Sri Lanka combat its worst outbreak of dengue fever, which has claimed 250 lives and infected nearly 100,000 people so far this year in the Indian Ocean island nation.
ANGOLA Media say President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has returned to the country from Spain, where he has received medical treatment this year. The state-run news agency Agencia Angola Press reported yesterday that dos Santos and his wife, Ana Paula dos Santos, arrived at a military base in Luanda, the capital.
POLAND Lawmakers voted yesterday to approve a contentious law that gives control of the nation’s Supreme Court to the president instead of to judges, sparking new protests outside parliament in Warsaw.
AUSTRIA-ITALY The Austrian foreign minister says he has told his Italian counterpart that migrants arriving by boat to Italy’s islands should not be permitted to travel on to the mainland because that acts as a gateway to the rest of Europe.
BRAZIL’s justice minister and the top prosecutor both insisted Wednesday that the corruption probe they’ve led against their country’s top politicians will continue in full force, even after ensnaring President Michel Temer.
US A New York City couple has pleaded guilty to enslaving two children from South Korea who were in their care. Fifty-four-year-old Jeong Taek Lee and his wife, 50-year-old Sook Yeon Park, both pleaded guilty to two counts of labor trafficking Wednesday.
