World briefs

PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte asked Congress yesterday to extend the martial law he declared in the country’s south by one year to ensure the “total eradication” of pro-Islamic State group extremists, warning they plan more uprisings after an unsuccessful but disastrous siege of Marawi city.

INDONESIA Police are hunting for an American citizen who escaped yesterday from an overcrowded and understaffed prison on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

 

INDIA’s main opposition Congress party yesterday named Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the country’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, as party president.

IRAN’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday it will raise the case of a detained British-Iranian woman with the judiciary “out of humanitarian concerns” following a visit by Britain’s foreign secretary.

SAUDI ARABIA announced yesterday it will allow movie theaters to open in the conservative kingdom next year, for the first time in more than 35 years, in the latest social push by the country’s young crown prince.

CONGO The United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Congo says military offenses will be launched against rebels who killed at least 15 Tanzanian U.N. peacekeepers last week in eastern Congo.

US A week of destructive fires in Southern California is ending but danger still looms the region that emerged this spring from a yearslong drought and now has firefighters on edge because of parched conditions.

HONDURAS’ electoral court has finished a hand recount of votes in nearly 5,000 ballot boxes, saying results were “extremely consistent” with original data for the presidential election.

VENEZUELA’s ruling socialists swept nearly all the races for mayors across the country, and President Nicolas Maduro is now threatening to ban key opposition parties from future elections in the oil-rich country wracked by economic crisis.

SWITZERLAND Real Madrid will now face Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League. The Champions League last 16 draw took place yesterday in Nyon.

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