World briefs

CHINA A Malaysian robbery suspect was captured 22 minutes after he grabbed watches from a downtown Beijing luxury store while carrying a black toy gun, police said yesterday. Moi Kit Leng, 38, was detained on suspicion of robbery Monday evening after the robbery at a shopping center in the bustling Wangfujing district, the police said. The Beijing News identified the retailer as a Cartier store.

PHILIPPINES-LIBYA The Philippine government says that four Filipino nurses reported to have been kidnapped from a Libyan hospital by militants from an Islamic State group affiliate were actually taken to a safe place by a friend and were not abducted.

NEPAL is adding more medical staff at Mount Everest’s base camp and working to speed up rescue efforts in steps to boost safety after 16 local guides were killed by an avalanche last year in the deadliest disaster ever on the world’s highest peak. Four doctors, up from two or three in the past, will be stationed at the base camp’s emergency room tent.

PAKISTANI officials say they have executed 12 people in the country’s single-largest day of executions, after a nationwide ban on the death penalty was lifted. The Home Minister for Punjab province, Shuja Khanzada, said authorities at several different jails in the province hanged 10 prisoners yesterday who had been sentenced to death in murder cases.

MYANMAR The death toll in a weekend ferry accident off Myanmar’s northwestern coast has increased to 59 as more bodies were recovered, state-run media reported yesterday. The Myanma Ahlin newspaper said that rescuers pulled 23 more bodies out from inside the ship in about 30 meters of water, but that the number of survivors increased to 169 from 167.

AUSTRALIA A Roman Catholic archbishop in Australia is charged with covering up for a pedophile priest during the 1970s. Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson said he was disappointed that New South Wales state police had decided to charge him with concealing a serious child sexual abuse offence.

USA Several celebrities have joined the boycott bandwagon launched by Elton John after fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana criticized same-sex parents and the use of in vitro fertilization in an Italian magazine, calling the resulting children “synthetic.” Courtney Love and Ricky Martin are among those pledging to ditch their Dolce & Gabbana clothes and support the boycott.

IRELAND Landmark buildings across Ireland and the world have been floodlit green as global celebrations of the Emerald Isle’s patron saint are culminating in parades and celebrations in Dublin and other cities for St. Patrick’s Day.