World briefs

PHILIPPINES Communist guerrillas abducted two soldiers and at least a dozen militiamen and seized several rifles in an attack yesterday on an army base in the southern Philippines, officials said, in the latest flare-up of an insurgency that has raged for nearly half a century.

US-N.KOREA The Trump administration’s special envoy for North Korea said yesterday that Washington is reviewing easing its travel restrictions to North Korea to facilitate humanitarian shipments as part of efforts to resolve an impasse in nuclear diplomacy.

NEPAL’s government has stopped eight Italian contractors from leaving the Himalayan country in an effort to complete a critical but much delayed water supply project for the capital.

PAKISTAN Officials say the government has approved fresh measures to avoid being blacklisted by an international group that monitors money laundering and terror financing.

YEMEN A cease-fire has halted months of heavy fighting in Yemen’s port city of Hodeida, raising hopes that the latest U.N.-led peace efforts can end the civil war and alleviate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

TURKEY Coastal emergency teams have rescued 16 crew members from a cargo ship that ran aground off the Black Sea coast of Sile in a dramatic operation that lasted several hours.

ROMANIA’s top defense body has agreed to upgrade the country’s armed forces and equipment in the next decade.

GERMANY Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman says the German leader has no plans to reshuffle her Cabinet after a one-time rival who narrowly lost the race for her party’s leadership hinted he’d be interested in joining the government.

BELGIUM Prime Minister Charles Michel has submitted his resignation amid pressure on his government after the biggest coalition party quit over Michel’s support for a United Nations compact on international migration.

EU Hackers have spent years eavesdropping on the diplomatic communications of European Union officials, a U.S. cybersecurity firm said yesterday, an operation disrupted only after researchers discovered hundreds of intercepted documents lying around on the internet. 

BRAZIL Fire swept over a low-income neighborhood in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus, destroying at least 600 wooden houses, authorities said.

GUATEMALA Authorities said that they have withdrawn diplomatic immunity from 11 workers with a U.N.-sponsored anti-graft commission who have investigated cases of alleged corruption.