World briefs

THAILAND Human rights groups along with current and former soccer players have called on FIFA and the Australian government to intervene to stop a Melbourne-based refugee and semi-professional soccer player being extradited from Thailand to Bahrain.

INDIA A gunbattle between Indian troops and Kashmiri rebels left six militants dead and triggered a new round of anti-India protests in the disputed Himalayan region.

AFGHANISTAN The Taliban welcomed news of the U.S. plan to withdraw half its troops in Afghanistan by the summer, as Afghan generals warned it would be a blow to the morale of the country’s beleaguered security forces who come under daily attacks from the insurgent fighters.

RUSSIA Rescue teams yesterday found the bodies of nine construction workers who were trapped inside a burning potash mine in Russia’s Ural Mountains.

SAUDI ARABIA Prayers were held yesterday for Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, a senior member of the royal family who supported women’s rights and once led a group of dissident princes, who died at the age of 87.

SYRIA Turkey is massing troops near a town in northern Syria held by a U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led force, a war monitor and Turkish media said yesterday.

FRANCE Authorities yesterday defended aggressive police actions to contain violence at yellow vest protests after a policeman was seen briefly brandishing a gun at a surging crowd in Paris.

BRITAIN Police yesterday freed two people who been arrested in connection with the drone incursions at London’s Gatwick Airport, saying they were no longer suspects. The move left the public with no answers about who had disrupted the holiday travel plans of tens of thousands of people. 

NICARAGUA In barely a week’s time, President Daniel Ortega has cemented the authoritarian reputation of his government by shuttering the offices some of the few remaining resonant voices of dissent and expelling the international monitors documenting his government’s alleged crimes.

BRAZIL’s state police say they have found a suitcase full of cash and emeralds hidden in the home of a faith healer accused of sexual abuse by hundreds of women.