World Briefs

CHINA A former employee of the British Consulate in Hong Kong says he was detained and tortured by Chinese secret police trying to extract information about massive anti-government protests in the territory. More on p12

THAILAND The Constitutional Court ruled yesterday that the maverick leader of a new political party that finished third in a general election in March violated election laws and cannot keep his seat in Parliament. The court said Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit [pictured], leader of the Future Forward Party, violated a regulation barring owners of media companies from running for Parliament.

THAILAND Pope Francis arrived in Bangkok yesterday to begin a tour of Thailand and Japan, beginning a mission to boost the morale of those countries’ tiny minority Catholic communities and speak about issues of concern including human trafficking and peacemaking.

INDIA Twenty-two farmers were arrested in northern India yesterday for setting fires to clear their fields and contributing to some of the worst air pollution in the country, a government official said.

SRI LANKA Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe plans to step down, clearing the way for Parliament to choose a new prime minister to work with newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

JAPAN Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made history yesterday by becoming Japan’s longest-serving political leader, though he hasn’t achieved his biggest goal of revising the nation’s pacifist constitution. Abe marked his 2,887th day in office, surpassing Taro Katsura from the early 20th century.

ETHIOPIA Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister urged calm yesterday as millions of citizens held a referendum on whether to create a new regional state along ethnic lines. The Sidama referendum “is an expression of the democratization path Ethiopia has set out on,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement.

BELGIUM NATO foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels to prepare a leaders’ summit in two weeks amid tensions over French President Emmanuel Macron’s complaints about the “brain death” of the alliance. France says it’s concerned about a lack of U.S. leadership at NATO, the unpredictability of Turkey after its invasion of northern Syria and the need for Europe to take on more security responsibilities.

AUSTRIA Authorities say the house where Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 will become a police precinct, ending years of uncertainty over the building that’s become a pilgrimage site for people who glorify the Nazi dictator.

GERMANY The son of former German president Richard von Weizsaecker was stabbed to death while he was giving a lecture at a hospital in Berlin where he worked as a head physician, police said yesterday.