World Briefs

INDONESIA Thousands of people knelt in prayer in Aceh province at ceremonies yesterday marking the 15th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, one of modern history’s worst natural disasters.

INDONESIA People along a swath of southern Asia gazed at the sky in marvel on yesterday at a “ring of fire” solar eclipse. The so-called annular eclipse, in which a thin outer ring of the sun is still visible, could be seen along a path stretching from India and Pakistan to Thailand and Indonesia.

PHILIPPINES A strong typhoon that barreled through the central Philippines left at least 20 people dead and forced thousands to flee their homes, devastating Christmas celebrations in the predominantly Catholic country. Typhoon Phanfone stranded many people in sea and airports at the peak of holiday travel, set off landslides, flooded low-lying villages, destroyed houses, downed trees and electrical poles and knocked out power in entire provinces. One disaster response officer described the battered coastal town of Batad in Iloilo province as a “ghost town” on Christmas Day.

JAPAN executed its first foreigner in 10 years yesterday, a Chinese man convicted in the 2003 murder and robbery of a family of four. Wei Wei, 40, was hanged yesterday at a detention center in Fukuoka where he had been on death row for more than 16 years, Justice Minister Masako Mori said.

AUSTRALIA Firefighters battling wildfires in Australia’s most populous state attempted to make headway yesterday amid favorable conditions, before an “extreme heatwave” hits embattled areas on the weekend.

IRAQ The president refused yesterday to designate the Iran-backed parliamentary bloc’s nominee for prime minister after he was rejected by anti-government protesters, and said he was prepared to submit his resignation to Parliament.

TURKEY’s highest court yesterday ruled in favor of Wikipedia, saying the Turkish government’s two-year ban on the online encyclopedia constitutes a violation of freedom of expression, the state-run news agency reported. Turkey blocked Wikipedia in April 2017, accusing it of being part of a “smear campaign” against the country, after the website refused to remove content that allegedly portrayed Turkey as supporting the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations.

ISRAEL The governing Likud party held a primary vote yesterday in the first serious internal challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his more than a decade in power. Veteran politician Gideon Saar hopes to unseat Netanyahu, arguing that he will be better placed to form a government in national elections in March after Netanyahu failed to do so in two repeat elections this year.