World Briefs

PHILIPPINES The head of the world’s largest body of Muslim-majority countries has strongly condemned the bombing of a Catholic church in the Philippines that killed 20 people and wounded nearly a dozen.

MALAYSIA Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that proceeding with a multibillion-dollar China-backed rail link project would impoverish the country, saddling the government with excess debt for the next 30 years.

THAILAND’s military government has suspended the licensing of commercial marijuana-based products for medical use amid concern that foreign pharmaceutical companies might try to monopolize the market.

NORTH KOREA is unlikely to give up its nuclear capabilities, the top U.S. intelligence official said, even as President Donald Trump expresses confidence he can persuade Kim Jong Un to disarm.

PAKISTAN’s top court yesterday upheld its acquittal of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, paving the way for Aasia Bibi to leave the country in a blow to radical Islamists who had demanded her execution. 

IRAQ The leader of one of the most powerful Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq said that he expects a vote in the coming months by Iraq’s parliament calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, underscoring the jostling for power between Iran and the U.S. in this key Middle Eastern country.

SYRIA Government forces shelled a northwestern town held by al-Qaida-linked militants yesterday, killing at least 10 people and wounding others.

BULGARIA’s prime minister said yesterday that his country still aims to adopt the euro by 2022 despite some opposition by some local businesses that fear greater scrutiny of the economy.

SPAIN Official statistics show that Spain’s jobless rate dropped to 14.45 percent in 2018, the lowest in one decade.

BRAZIL Authorities issued arrest warrants yesterday for five people in connection with a dam collapse that killed at least 65 people as it plastered part of a city with reddish-brown mud and iron ore mining waste.

US Insurance claims from California’s deadly November 2018 wildfires have topped USD11.4 billion, making the series of fires some of the most expensive in state history.