World Briefs

INDONESIA’s volatile Mount Merapi volcano on the island of Java has unleashed a river of lava that flowed 1,400 meters down its slopes.

BANGLADESH More than 5,000 Bangladesh workers who demanded higher wages have been fired by factory owners, and hundreds face police charges in the world’s second-largest garment export industry after China, an activist said yesterday. 

AFGHANISTAN A new U.S. watchdog report says Afghan security forces are shrinking, gaps in security are growing, and the Taliban are largely holding their own despite a surge in American bombing.

IRAN Three European nations appeared poised yesterday to announce they have created a way for Iran to continue trade with them and avoid re-imposed U.S. sanctions, two Iranian officials said, setting up a potential collision with President Donald Trump.

SAUDI ARABIA’s unprecedented anti-corruption sweep that saw top princes, businessmen, military officers and officials detained at the Ritz-Carlton hotel has concluded after netting the government around USD106.6 billion, the Royal Court said.

CYPRUS The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution urging Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to agree on terms for starting negotiations aimed at reunifying their divided island.

ITALY has fallen back into recession, intensifying concerns about the 19-country eurozone economy and a possible flare-up in the debt market jitters that haunted the bloc in recent years. 

POLAND About 2,500 kilograms of meat from sick cows who were slaughtered illegally in Poland has been exported to 10 other European Union countries, the country’s top state veterinary official said yesterday.

VENEZUELA Citizens of every age, class and profession poured into the streets of the capital to demand that President Nicolas Maduro step down and to express their support for the young opposition leader who has declared himself interim president.

CUBA Canada announced it is removing up to half of the Canadians at its embassy in Cuba after another diplomat fell mysteriously ill. Canada has confirmed 14 cases of unexplained health problems since early 2017.