World Briefs

KOREA North Korea is no longer South Korea’s “enemy,” though Pyongyang’s nuclear program still poses a security threat, according to Seoul’s biennial defense document published this week.

AUSTRALIA-VANUATU Australia’s prime minister has brushed off Vanuatu’s resistance to a bilateral security treaty after a meeting in the South Pacific island nation that comes amid concerns about growing Chinese influence in the region.

PAKISTAN Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian acquitted of blasphemy, still lives the life of a prisoner, nearly three months after her release from death row, awaiting a final ruling on her fate.

SYRIA An explosion struck yesterday near a patrol of the U.S.-led coalition in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, killing and wounding more than a dozen people, a Syrian war monitoring group and a local town council said.

KENYA’s security forces have killed the Islamic extremist gunmen whose assault on a luxury hotel and shopping complex took 14 “innocent lives,” the country’s president said yesterday. 

ZIMBABWE police armed with AK-47 rifles arrested Evan Mawarire, an activist and pastor, from his home in the capital yesterday as a crackdown grew over protests against dramatic fuel price hikes in the economically shattered country.

SERBIA Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the U.S. and the West of destabilizing the Balkans with NATO expansionist policies as Serbia prepares a hero’s welcome for the Russian president.

ITALY A popular Naples pizzeria is the latest target of bombings in the area which Italian authorities have linked to mobsters.

NORWAY  Police say the body of one of four skiers who were buried by an avalanche in northern Norway earlier this month has been recovered.

SPAIN Government figures show the country received a national record of 82.6 million foreign tourists last year. The figures show Spain remains competitive as it battles to overtake France, the world’s top destination in 2017 with almost 87 million arrivals.

BRAZIL President Jair Bolsonaro has signed a decree making it easier for many Brazilians to own firearms, the first of many expected changes by the nascent administration to overhaul gun laws in the nation that leads the world in total homicides.

GUATEMALA The latest caravan of Honduran migrants hoping to reach the U.S. has crossed peacefully into Guatemala, under the watchful eyes of about 200 Guatemalan police and soldiers.