World Briefs

PHILIPPINES A grenade was thrown into a mosque in the southern Philippines where Muslim teachers were sleeping early yesterday morning, killing two of them and injuring four, authorities said.

INDONESIA Activists in the mountainous jungle-clad Papua region risked imprisonment to collect 1.8 million signatures for a petition calling for self-determination but had a final dilemma: They were blocked from presenting it to the intended recipient, the United Nations.

THAILAND A political party closely associated with Thailand’s military government yesterday named Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha as a possible candidate to become the next premier if it forms a government after next month’s election.

INDIA Authorities in India’s most populous state have been ordered to bar code stray cows and use vacant buildings to shelter them in response to farmers’ complaints that the closure of slaughterhouses has created a menace of crop-destroying, free-range cattle.

SYRIA It only took a few days for al-Qaida-linked militants to seize more than two dozen towns and villages in northern Syria from rival insurgents earlier this month, cementing their control over an area the size of neighboring Lebanon.

DJIBOUTI More than 130 migrants were thought to be missing after two boats capsized off the tiny East African nation of Djibouti, the U.N. migration agency said.

GERMANY Authorities arrested three Iraqi refugees yesterday on allegations they were planning an Islamic extremist bombing attack, and searched properties in three states in connection with their investigation.

FRANCE A top European human rights official thinks France is cracking down too hard on yellow vest protesters, joining other critics decrying the use of high-velocity rubber projectiles against unruly demonstrators and a draft law that could limit people’s right to protest.

BRITAIN The European Union’s Brexit negotiator says the EU stands united in defense of its divorce deal with Britain, after Prime Minister Theresa won a parliamentary mandate to reopen the agreement. 

VENEZUELA Opposition leader Juan Guaido is looking to ratchet up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro with walkouts across Venezuela yesterday, just a day after the embattled socialist administration barred Guaido from leaving the country.

BRAZIL A torrent of muddy mining waste unleashed by a dam breach that killed at least 84 people in southeastern Brazil is now heading down a small river with high concentrations of iron oxide, threatening to contaminate a much larger river.