World Briefs

MALAYSIA Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of central Pahang state was named Malaysia’s new king yesterday, replacing Sultan Muhammad V who abdicated unexpectedly after just two years on the throne.

INDONESIA A polarizing Christian politician whose campaign comments ignited the largest protests in years in Muslim-majority Indonesia was freed yesterday after serving nearly two years in prison for blasphemy.

JAPAN Whalers discussed plans yesterday to resume their commercial hunting along the northeastern coast on July 1, for the first time in three decades.

INDIA At least six people were killed when a building collapsed yesterday in northern India as workers were adding an additional floor to it, police said.

IRAN arrested more than 7,000 people last year, including dozens of journalists, in what Amnesty International yesterday called a “shameless campaign of repression”.

SUDAN’s embattled president met the ruler of the tiny, energy-rich nation of Qatar, likely looking for financial support amid weekslong protests challenging his 29-year rule in the African nation.

SWEDEN A Russian reconnaissance plane escorted by two Russian fighter jets briefly violated Sweden’s air space on the country’s Baltic Sea coast, the Swedish military said yesterday.

SPAIN Police say that two taxi drivers protesting for tighter regulations for app-based ride-hailing services have been arrested in clashes with police in Madrid that slightly injured three officers.

BRITAIN Lawmakers handling Brexit for the European Parliament are urging British Prime Minister Theresa May to inform her EU partners how she plans to advance the deadlocked process and what she wants from them.

VENEZUELA headed into uncharted political waters yesterday, with the young leader of a newly united and combative opposition claiming to hold the presidency and socialist President Nicolas Maduro digging in for a fight with the Trump administration.

US Prosecutors are preparing to charge a 19-year-old man from El Salvador who was living in the U.S. illegally with killing four people in two different Nevada cities, while investigators looked for possible links between the victims and suspect.