World briefs

THAILAND Several thousand supporters of a popular opposition party in Thailand that is under threat of dissolution rallied in the nation’s capital in one of the largest political demonstrations since a 2014 coup.

NORTH KOREA said it successfully performed another “crucial test” at its long-range rocket launch site that will further strengthen its nuclear deterrent. The test possibly involved technologies to improve intercontinental ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the continental United States.

PHILIPPINES A strong earthquake jolted the southern Philippines yesterday, killing at least one person and causing a three-story building to collapse, setting off a search for people feared to have been trapped inside, officials said. The magnitude 6.9 quake struck an area about 6 kilometers northwest of Padada town in Davao del Sur province. 

JAPAN Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke at yesterday’s official completion of the new national stadium, the venue for the opening and closing ceremony of next year’s Tokyo Olympics. It will also host track and field and some soccer. “It blends with its surrounding and the natural environment,” Abe said, noting it showcased Japan’s ties to nature with its use of wood lattice work.

BANGLADESH At least 10 people were killed in a fire at a factory outside Bangladesh’s capital yesterday, the second deadly factory fire in the area in less than a week, officials said. The fire broke out Sunday evening in the Luxury Fan Factory in the Gazipur area outside of Dhaka.

LEBANON Attackers in northern Lebanon set fire to the offices of two major political parties yesterday, the state-run National News Agency said. The assaults came just hours after the capital Beirut was rocked by the most violent government crackdown on protesters since nationwide demonstrations began two months ago.

NEPAL A bus carrying Hindu pilgrims drove off a highway and crashed in Nepal yesterday, killing 14 people and injuring 18, police said.The pilgrims were returning home after visiting the famed Hindu Kalinchowk Bhagwati temple when the bus veered off the highway about 80 kilometers east of the capital, Kathmandu, police official Prajwal Maharjan said.

NEW ZEALAND A second land search of the volcanic White Island yesterday failed to locate the bodies of the last two victims of an eruption that has now claimed 16 lives, most of them tourists. New Zealand police confirmed the 16th victim died Saturday at Sydney’s Concord Hospital.

UK There will be no letup for U.K. lawmakers worn out after Britain’s bruising election campaign. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to begin “before Christmas” the push to secure Parliamentary approval for his Brexit deal. Buoyed by its landslide victory in Thursday’s election, Johnson’s Conservative government plans to move fast to make good on his campaign mantra to “get Brexit done.”