World Briefs

EAST TIMOR An American missionary who was a hero in East Timor for founding children’s shelters that have operated for more than two decades has been expelled from his Catholic congregation after admitting to sexual abuse of minors.

KOREA-JAPAN The speaker of South Korea’s parliament said he had no intention to apologize for his comments about Japan’s emperor, suggesting the issue could continue to stoke tensions between the neighbors.

AUSTRALIA The government said it would reopen a mothballed island detention camp in anticipation of a new wave of asylum seekers arriving by boat after Parliament passed legislation that would give sick asylum seekers easier access to mainland hospitals.

INDIA Two managers of a New Delhi budget hotel where a fire killed 17 people have been arrested on suspicion of culpable homicide, police said yesterday.

ISRAEL The Mideast conference in Poland offers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an opportunity to flaunt in public what he has long boasted about happening behind the scenes — his country’s improved relations with some Gulf Arab nations.

IRAN A suicide bombing in the country’s southeast has killed at least 20 elite Revolutionary Guard personnel and wounded 20. The IRNA news agency reported the toll in the bombing yesterday in Sistan and Baluchistan province. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

NIGERIA In Nigeria fake news can be so outlandish, yet widely believed, that the president recently felt compelled to declare that he had not died and been replaced by a Sudanese body double.

NETHERLANDS Fisherman protested outside parliament in a last-ditch attempt to avert a European Union ban on the practice of using electric shocks to stun fish before scooping them up in nets.

SPAIN It’s being billed as Spain’s “trial of the century”: A dozen politicians and activists are in in the Supreme Court facing charges including rebellion and sedition from their involvement in Catalonia’s push for independence in 2017. It is being televised live and is expected to last at least three months.

US The national debt has passed a new milestone, topping USD22 trillion for the first time. It stood at $19.95 trillion when President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.