World briefs

CHINA said yesterday that it has expelled former Interpol President Meng Hongwei from public office and the ruling Communist Party as he awaits trial on corruption charges.

INDIA successfully test-fired an anti-satellite weapon yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an unexpected announcement just weeks before a general election.

IRAQ Turkey’s state-run news agency says a senior Kurdish rebel commander has been seriously wounded in a Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq. Three other wanted militants were killed.

SAUDI ARABIA Nearly a dozen Saudi women’s rights activists seated before a three-judge panel in a Riyadh courtroom yesterday laid out their defense and spoke of physical and sexual abuse they say they were subjected to by masked interrogators, according to people with knowledge of the case.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE An unofficial cease-fire appeared to be holding yesterday between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers despite limited exchanges of fire.

VATICAN Pope Francis allowed nuns and priests to kiss his papal ring during his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, two days after a video that showed him pulling his hand away from several faithful drew disapproval from some of the pope’s conservative critics.

SPAIN The 10 people who allegedly raided the North Korean Embassy in Madrid last month belong to a mysterious dissident organization that styles itself as a government-in-exile dedicated to toppling the ruling Kim family dynasty in North Korea.

NORWAY A cruise ship that was the focus of a daring rescue operation off Norway’s frigid North Sea coast became disabled because its engines didn’t have enough lubricating oil, the country’s top maritime official said yesterday.

USA President Donald Trump is calling on Republicans to revive the effort to quash the Affordable Care Act, handing Democrats an opportunity to unite in defense of the law as they try to move past the Russia investigation and win the White House in 2020.

VENEZUELA With her youthful energy and globe-trotting, the 26-year-old wife of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is emerging as a prominent figure in his campaign to bring change to the crisis-wracked country.

BRAZIL Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s call to commemorate the anniversary of Brazil’s 1964 military coup is causing discomfort in Latin America’s largest nation.