World Briefs

MYANMAR The United Nations’ top court announced yesterday that it will issue a decision next week on a request to order Myanmar to halt what has been cast as a genocidal campaign against the southeast Asian country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. The West African nation of Gambia, on behalf of a large organization of Islamic nations, asked the International Court of Justice last month to take “all measures within its power to prevent all acts that amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide.”

JAPAN Popular environment minister said yesterday that he will take paternity leave when his first child is born later this month to be a good example for working fathers in Japan, where men are largely absent from child rearing. With Japan facing an aging population and a dwindling birthrate, the government recently began promoting paternity leave. Last month, it adopted a policy allowing public servants to take more than a month of paternity leave.

EGYPT The military says one of its fighter jets crashed in the Sinai Peninsula where the country’s forces have been battling militants and that the pilot was killed. The Islamic State group claimed it downed the aircraft. According to a tweet by Egypt’s military spokesman, Tamer Refai, the jet crashed during a training exercise on Tuesday. He said that an investigation into the crash was underway.

HUNGARY Police yesterday recommended filing drug dealing charges against two Dutch men arrested in August at a popular music festival. Budapest police said they found 20 kilograms of pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes and ecstasy pills with a street value of around $335,000, most of it stashed away in a small van they were using and which was parked outside the festival grounds.

POLAND The European Union executive has come to the aid of Poland, which is involved in a bitter dispute with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Poland’s role in World War II. EU Commissioner Vera Jourova told the parliament yesterday that she “rejects any false claim” that paints Poland as a perpetrator instead of a victim of the 1939-1945 war. She said she “will not tolerate these attacks on Poland.”

UK The estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex could be called as a defense witness in her lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday newspaper, court papers reveal. Meghan is suing the newspaper and its parent company Associated Newspapers for publishing a letter she wrote to her father, Thomas Markle. The civil lawsuit accuses the newspaper of copyright infringement, misuse of private information and violating the U.K.’s data protection law with the publication of the letter.

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has tapped an Italian lawyer to be the first woman to hold a management position in the Vatican’s most important office, the Secretariat of State. Francis yesterday named Francesca Di Giovanni, a 27-year veteran of the Vatican, as undersecretary for multilateral affairs. In that role, she will be responsible for running a division that coordinates the Holy See’s relations with the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations.